Munetaka Murakami is on a home run tear that MLB has never seen from a rookie.
The Chicago White Sox slugger smashed a mammoth home run on Friday against the Washington Nationals deep to right-center field at Rate Field in Chicago, Ill. The solo blast tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of teh 4th inning.
MUNETAKA MURAKAMI 😤
— MLB (@MLB) April 25, 2026
HOME RUN NO. 11 pic.twitter.com/KW8paBl3K3
The home run was Murakami’s 11th of the season — an unfathomable number for someone who took his first MLB at-bats just over a month ago. The Japanese stud became the first rookie ever to surpass 10 home runs before the calendar reached May.
Murakami bested Aaron Judge, Trevor Story, and Jose Abreu, who each had legendary rookie campaigns that saw them hit 10 home runs through April.
The White Sox still have five games left in April for Murakami to pad his lead even more. Given that he just his home runs in six of his last seven games, there’s a decent chance he can add at least one more before May.
Murakami hit a home run in each of his first three games before hitting a bit of a cold stretch in the early part of April, then finding his form again over the past two weeks.
For reference, Shohei Ohtani similarly had a 3-game home run streak in his first week as a rookie for the Los Angeles Angels back in 2018, but only had four home runs by May.
In all fairness to Ohtani, he was missing a fifth of his possible at-bats back then on the days he was on the mound as a starting pitcher.
The White Sox won over Murakami in free agency in December in a deal that’s now looking like an absolute bargain. The team hilariously misspelled Murakami’s name on his locker during spring training. After 11 home runs through most of April, that mistake won’t be happening again.
