Japanese baseball player Munetaka Murakami and the Chicago White Sox have reached an agreement on a two-year, $34 million contract. In this way, the player who holds the record for home runs in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league joins a rebuilding team that is making its first major free-agent signing in years. Murakami, 25, was undoubtedly the most interesting player on the free-agent market this winter. A left-handed batter standing 1.88 meters tall and weighing 104 kilograms with an elite ball exit velocity, he arrived in the Major Leagues with 246 home runs in his eight seasons with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. He has been a star in Japan since hitting 36 home runs at the age of 19 in 2019. He followed it up with a 56-home run season in 2022, breaking the record for a player born in Japan.
