Milwaukee, WI (AP) – Munetaka Murakami of the Chicago White Sox and Chase DeLauter of the Cleveland Guardians have accomplished something in the last week that had been done only twice before.
The two rookies homered in each of their first three major league games. According to Sportradar, the only other players to hit home runs in at least their first three Major League Baseball games were Trevor Story with the Colorado Rockies in 2016 and Kyle Lewis with the Seattle Mariners in 2019.
Murakami said after the White Sox’s 9-7 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday that he’s “truly grateful and happy” to achieve that type of milestone but added he still has plenty to work on as he begin his career.
“There’s still a long way to go and lots of ways to improve, so that’s what I’ll keep on doing in the upcoming days,” Murakami said through interpreter Kenzo Yagi.
Story owns the MLB record with homers in his first four career games. DeLauter was unable to match that record Sunday when he went 1 for 3 with a single but no homers in the Guardians’ fourth game of the season, an 8-0 loss to Seattle.
Murakami, 26, added his name to the club Sunday by sending a 3-2 pitch from Milwaukee’s Brandon Sproat over the wall in right-center and into the White Sox bullpen in the second inning. The Japanese slugger homered off Jake Woodford in the ninth inning of his debut Thursday and went deep against Chad Patrick in the fourth inning Saturday.
“The park doesn’t seem big enough to hold him, you know what I mean?” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “He’s impressive.”
Murakami gets a chance to tie Story’s record Monday when the White Sox play at Miami.
The White Sox could use some good news. They’ve lost over 100 games each of the last three seasons and they were outscored a combined 20-3 in their first two games this year before blowing a 7-2 lead on Sunday.
But the emergence of Murakami at least gives them some reason for hope.
“It all translates from his work, his preparation and things like that,” White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery said. “It’s one thing that I respect a lot. He comes in day in and day out and he’s doing stuff. He never skips anything. He’s always working on his craft. He’s a hard worker. To me, I think it just makes sense why he’s going out there and he’s performing really well.”
Murakami signed a two-year, $34 million contract with the White Sox in December after hitting 246 homers over eight seasons with the Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Central League — including a 56-homer season in 2022.
He also struck out 977 times out of 3,780 plate appearances in Japan, leading to some questions about his chances of success in the majors. Murakami has four strikeouts already — including three on Sunday — but he also has walked four times and owns a .538 on-base percentage.
White Sox pitcher Anthony Kay, who played in Japan the last two years, had no doubt that Murakami’s power would translate.
“I watched him two years in Japan,” Kay said. “I’m not surprised by it. I know some people are, but I’ve seen it, so I’m not surprised.”
DeLauter, 24, hit four homers in his first three games.
The outfielder went deep twice in his MLB debut on Thursday and became the fifth player in the Guardians’ 126-year history to homer in his first career regular-season at-bat. He added a solo shot off Seattle’s George Kirby on Friday. DeLauter struck out three times Saturday but hit a two-run blast off Andrés Muñoz in the 10th inning of a 6-5 victory.
“That shows the maturity right there,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said Saturday. “He had a tough night up until that point, and obviously facing one of the best closers in the league — if not the best closer in the league — and to hit a ball oppo in Seattle at night when it’s cold, that takes some kind of power.”
Cleveland had drafted DeLauter out of James Madison with the 16th pick in 2022. He made the Guardians’ season-opening roster after hitting .459 with a .535 on-base percentage and three homers in 14 spring training games.
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