Munetaka Murakami needed only one series to show why the Chicago White Sox pushed so hard to bring him over from Japan. The 26‑year‑old slugger homered in each of his first three MLB games against the Milwaukee Brewers, offering instant middle‑order thunder to a rebuilding club that still left American Family Field with more questions than answers.
Opening statement in a blowout
Murakami’s run began on Opening Day, and it came in classic “too little, too late” fashion on the scoreboard. With the White Sox trailing 14–2 in the ninth, he turned a 1–1 pitch from Brewers right‑hander Jake Woodford into a 384‑foot shot to right field, leaving the bat at 103 mph for his first major league hit. Even in garbage time, the swing showed the same calm setup and explosive finish that made him a record‑setting star in Nippon Professional Baseball and hinted that his power would translate immediately.
Murakami’s Game Two Blast Rewrites White Sox History
Two days later, Murakami wasted no time proving the debut wasn’t a one‑off. In game two he unloaded on a pitch from Brewers starter Chad Patrick, sending a projected 409‑foot blast to straightaway center for Chicago’s lone run in a 6–1 loss. That second homer pushed him into the franchise record book as the first White Sox player ever to homer in each of his first two MLB games and only the second Japanese‑born former NPB player to pull off that feat in the majors.
Historic Game 3: Third Straight Homer for the White Sox
By the March 29 finale the Brewers knew exactly who they couldn’t afford to let beat them, and it still didn’t matter. Murakami turned another mistake into another solo homer, his third in as many games to open the 2026 season, giving Chicago its most consistent source of offense in an otherwise frustrating series. The White Sox again failed to stack much around him and dropped the game and the set, but their new import left Milwaukee with three home runs in three games and one of the hottest starts to an MLB career in recent memory.
What Murakami’s Start Means for the White Sox
Three games is a tiny sample, and solo shots in losses don’t fix the standings, yet there’s real signal inside Murakami’s first few days. He has already shown the ability to punish velocity, drive the ball to multiple parts of the park and maintain his strike‑zone plan even as opponents begin to nibble. For manager Will Venable, the immediate takeaway is simple: the White Sox finally have a true middle‑order bat to write in ink, a left‑handed anchor capable of reshaping game plans and giving a long‑suffering fan base a new star to rally around.
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