Munetaka Murakami is all the talk of international baseball right now. The 22-year-old infielder just recently signed a three-year deal with the Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball with the stipulation that he’d be posted in 2025.
That’s not going to be the case. According to Nick Groke of The Athletic, said deal will enable him to be posted after the 2025 season and make his way to North America in time for the 2026 MLB season.
At that point, teams will have to meet the Swallows’s posting price before being able to sign Murakami in what would likely be the largest sweepstakes for an international player in history.
This is an absolutely huge deal. We’re talking about one of the most sought-after foreign players in the modern history of baseball. Only Shohei Ohtani compares to the type of market Murakami will receive once a posting is made.
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Munetaka Murakami is the next great thing
Former American League MVP Shohei Ohtani initially signed a deal back in 2017 that yielded a $2.3 million bonus after leaving Japan. Under the guidelines set forth, Murakami would join Ohtani as an international amateur — meaning that his first three seasons would be played under the league minimum.
For teams around MLB, that would be a major boon given the production we’ve seen from Murakami since he made his debut for Yakult at the young age of 18 back in 2018.
- Munetaka Murakami stats (2018-22): .282 average, 177 HR, 500 RBI, .971 OPS
This past season saw the young infielder hit .318 with 56 HR, 134 RBI and a 1.168 OPS. Those 56 homers broke the league record for a Japanese-born player, which was previously set by the legendary Sadaharu Oh who boasts the world record with 868 professional homers. He played in Japan from 1959-1980 and is considered GOAT.