"Murakami is a star for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball Organization. Throughout eight seasons in Japan, he has a .945 on-base plus slugging percentage and 262 home runs. Murakami has also become prominent thanks to his performance in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Murakami, notably, hit a two-run walk-off double against Mexico to send the Japanese team to the finals."
"The slugger unfortunately injured his oblique in mid-April and has missed about half of the season. However, that has not stopped him from hitting 19 home runs in just 42 games played. He is already fifth in home runs in the league despite having less than half the plate appearances of his contemporaries. The NPB is currently in a " dead-ball era " with offensive output across the league at all-time lows. Still, Murakami is hitting at a prolific rate in this low-offensive environment."
First base remains one of the most productive offensive positions, with first basemen recently averaging four percent more runs than the average major league player. The Nationals lack production at first base after losing Nathaniel Lowe and with Josh Bell underperforming and no clear first-base prospects in the minor leagues. Munetaka Murakami is a Tokyo Yakult Swallows star with a .945 OPS and 262 career home runs across eight NPB seasons, and he delivered a key two-run walk-off double in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. In 2025 he hit 19 home runs in 42 games despite an oblique injury and a low-offense NPB season.
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