Who is Munetaka Murakami, age, salary, contract details, stats, WBC 2023 team

Here is all you need to know about who is Munetaka Murakami, his age, career, team, salary, records and more

Japan won’t have any of its elite players competing in the World Baseball Classic. One of the favourites this year is Japan’s pitching staff, which includes stars like Shohei Ohtani, Rki Sasaki, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Nonetheless, Munetaka Murakami, a 23-year-old player in the lineup, has a potential to become the tournament’s breakout star this year.

Who is Munetaka Murakami?

At the moment, Murakami plays third base for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in the NPB. Born February 2, 2000, the player is currently 23 years old.

Munetaka Murakami career

The left-handed bat was chosen in the first round of the 2017 draught against opposition from the Yomiuri Giants and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. Murakami hit a home run in his first at-bat since making his debut in September 2018.

After a busy overseas tour, Murakami made his NPB Opening Day debut in 2019 at the age of 19. Every year, his statistics have improved, reaching a historic 2022.

Murakami, a player with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, recently had a remarkable NPB season in which he hit 56 home runs, a record for a player of Japanese descent. With 60, Wladimir Balentien of the Netherlands now holds the NPB record.

Munetaka Murakami stats

The best non-MLB hitter in the world, Murakami, didn’t only hit home runs last season. Also, he kept the ball in play while slashing.318/.458/.711 last season.

What’d next for Munetaka Murakami?

In fact, even before the World Baseball Classic has started, he is homering off MLB pitchers like Yu Darvish.

MLB fans will be keeping a close eye on Murakami, who has already stated a desire to play in the United States. After signing a three-year contract with the Swallows in December, he expects to be posted in 2025.

During his debut year with the Swallows, Murakami made an impact.

He blasted 36 home runs in his first full season with Yakult in 2019. Since then, he has hit at least 30 home runs in every season save for 2020, when he played in 23 fewer games.

Munetaka Murakami contract details

In December of last year, the 23-year-old Murakami agreed to a three-year contract worth 600 million yen ($4.4 million).

Due to a clause in the contract that stipulates he would be released in 2025, his MLB career would not begin until 2026.

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