When White Sox special assistant David Keller made his annual scouting trip to Japan last August, Munetaka Murakami stood out as one of the top targets. But the odds of the 25-year-old Nippon Professional Baseball superstar actually landing with Chicago? Keller, who leads the team’s international scouting department, admitted during the White Sox’s recent series against the Angels, “I thought it was like a 1% chance. Realistically, considering who he is, the talent level, and the system that I still felt was forming, plus him wanting to come to the South Side of Chicago — those were all unknowns.”
Nine months later, Murakami is already one of Major League Baseball’s premier home run hitters. The Japanese sensation has smashed 15 homers through his first 38 games, becoming the first rookie since Trevor Story in 2016 to enter May with at least a share of MLB’s home run lead. To nearly everyone’s surprise, his impact is unfolding in a Chicago White Sox uniform. “I think it raises our profile in Japan in a way that’s probably immeasurable,” Keller said.
Securing a foothold in Japan was expected to be a long-term project for Keller, who spent years as a Mets scout before joining the White Sox in September 2024. At the time of his hiring, the club had no full-time scout in Japan and was coming off the worst season in modern baseball history. Keller and general manager Chris Getz knew that building a presence in the Pacific Rim would require patience — likely years. The timeline accelerated when they hired a full-time NPB scout, Satoshi Takahashi, last June. A few months later, Keller made his summer trip to Japan.
By then, Murakami had already been on MLB’s radar for years. At age 22 in 2022, he set the single-season NPB record with 56 home runs and earned his second straight Central League MVP. Yet he was a polarizing talent. In the years that followed, Murakami couldn’t replicate that historic campaign. Injuries limited him to just 56 games last season, though he still launched 22 homers. His ceiling as a top power threat was clear, but a high strikeout rate and defensive limitations narrowed his suitors and lowered his floor.
Murakami’s three-true-outcome profile — homers, walks, and strikeouts — set him apart from other Japanese stars who made the leap to MLB, a dream he had held since childhood. That made his projection difficult. But when Keller traveled to Japan last season, something caught his eye. “He had really dedicated himself to getting into better shape, to moving better on the baseball field and really making the most of his ability, which for years prior had stood out, because the NPB game is slightly different than the major-league game,” Keller noted.
While MLB’s top home run hitters routinely eclipse 50 in a season, Murakami’s 56 homers in 2022 were a massive outlier in Japan. That year, he was one of only three NPB players with at least 30 home runs. Since that record, no NPB player has hit more than 41 in a season. “There aren’t players quite like him,” Keller said. Teams cannot speak directly to NPB players until their posting window opens, so scouts rely on conversations with those who know the player, watching pregame routines, and observing interactions with teammates and coaches.
