ATLANTA — When Munetaka Murakami signed with the White Sox last winter, he reached out to Seiya Suzuki for advice.
“Nothing really about baseball,’’ Suzuki, with Edwin Stanberry translating, said Sunday morning in Texas, before the Cubs flew here to open a three-game set against the Atlanta Braves, “More about Chicago, you know, where to live, where to eat.’’
And what did Suzuki suggest? Because Murakami would be playing on the South Side, Suzuki recommended finding a place downtown. “Nearby, and good security.’’
And did Murakami take his advice?
“I don’t know where he is,’’ Suzuki said. “I haven’t seen him.’’
That changes this weekend, when Suzuki and the Cubs will travel to Rate Field for the first round of the Crosstown Series with the White Sox. The teams meet again in August in Wrigley Field.
Murakami has been a revelation in his first season with the White Sox, hitting 15 home runs in his first 38 games. He ranks third in the majors, one behind Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber.
He announced himself by hitting home runs in each of his first three games, then homered in five straight games (April 17-22). Can Murakami Mania be far behind, especially with the White Sox flirting with first place in the American League Central?
“I think it’s impressive,’’ Suzuki said, “especially because the environment has changed for him. If he was putting up those numbers in Japan, I wouldn’t be surprised. But since coming over to a different country and stadium, and he’s still doing the same thing, that’s impressive.’’
Despite hitting 246 home runs in eight seasons with the Yakult Swallows of the Japan Pacific League, including a career high 56 in 2022, Murakami attracted limited interest when he announced his intentions to play in the United States.
The White Sox, facing limited competition, were able to sign Murakami to a two-year, $34 million. Contrast that to the five-year, $85 million deal Suzuki signed with the Cubs prior to the 2022 season.
Murakami has already exceeded the 14 home runs Suzuki hit in 111 games with the Cubs in 2022, his first season in Chicago.
“My first year, you know, all of my teammates, everybody was really nice to me,’’ Suzuki said. “It was nice to be around.
“But I think, with the [different] food and everything, I think it wasn’t until my second year that I felt acclimated.’’
Suzuki missed the first dozen games of the season recovering from an injury to his right knee he sustained attempting to steal second base while playing for Japan in the World Baseball Classic against Venezuela, the eventual champion.
The injury was diagnosed as a minor sprain of the posterior cruciate ligament, which runs in the back of the knee, connecting the thigh bone to the shinbone. It’s a far less common knee injury than an ACL injury, according to the Cleveland Clinic, comprising about 20 percent of knee ligament injuries.
Still, Suzuki has hit seven home runs through the Cubs’ first 41 games, which puts him on a pace to hit 28 home runs this season, four fewer than the 32 he hit for the Cubs last season. The most home runs he hit in a single season in Japan was 38 in 2021, the season before he signed with the Cubs.
Another Japanese slugger, third baseman Kazuma Okamoto, has made his big-league debut this season, so far hitting 10 home runs for the Toronto Blue Jays. Okamoto and Murakami are both ahead of Suzuki and Shohei Ohtani, off to a slow start at the plate with just six home runs, well behind the pace that led to a major league-best 54 home runs in 2024 and 55 last season.
All four players performed for Team Japan in the WBC this spring. Major League Baseball doesn’t award a trophy to the Japanese player who hits more home runs than any of his countrymen, but Suzuki was asked if there is a rivalry.
“There’s no real sense of competition,’’ he said. “It’s more like you check in on what they’re doing, and it gives you a little motivation. You know. they’re working hard, and you want to work hard.’’
It doesn’t happen as much now, Suzuki said, but all four players spoke frequently to each other.
“Everybody’s doing well,’’ he said. “I think it’s a good thing, especially for younger Japanese players that aspire to come to Major League Baseball. I think watching us, they’ll work harder.’’
At 26, Murakami is the youngest of the four. Okamoto turns 30 at the end of next month. Ohtani turns 32 in July, Suzuki 32 a month later.
According to veteran Japanese reporter Katsushi Nagao of Kyodo News, Suzuki is not really regarded in Japan as a prototypical home run hitter. Suzuki, Nagao said, really doesn’t see himself that way either.
“In the spring, I would ask Seiya about Murakami and he would say, ‘It might take him time to get used to [MLB], but he’s going to hit home runs. But not me.’’
Statistics compiled by MLB’s Baseball Savant suggest that Suzuki doesn’t have the classic slugger’s uppercut. Murakami has an attack angle of 19%, which ranks third in MLB. Okamoto is at 16%, Ohtani 13% [like Judge], and Suzuki is at 10%.
“In Japan, they’re comparing Shohei and Murakami, because Murakami is at such a hot pace.’’
Nagao noted that in Japan, it’s customary to be deferential to your elders. “Seiya said to me, ‘I don’t really check [Murakami’s] stats every day, but he’s a nice follower of me.
“They are close, but not like brothers. I’m sure this weekend, they will be chatting with each other.’’
And there is a special pride, Suzuki said, in seeing his countrymen thrive.
“For me, especially when I came over, there were a lot of [Japanese] right-handed hitters who had difficulty adjusting to the league,’’ Suzuki said. “I feel like I was able to kind of break that wall down where there are plenty of right-handed hitters from Japan who can come over and produce, like Okamoto.
“I think in Japan right now, the popularity of baseball is going down a little bit, not as many younger kids watching the games. The guys who are playing here now, myself included, want to increase that interest, not only for the fans, but for the players who might want to come over.’’
