White Sox Munetaka Murakami is singlehandedly keeping his team in contention originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

There is a case to be made about the Chicago White Sox sensational first baseman, Munetaka Murakami, that would perfectly describe his 2026 season.

He has hit a home run in four straight games, giving him a total of nine on the season. That is tied for the second-most in all of Major League Baseball with New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge. He has also barreled the ball 26.2% of the time he has gotten wood on the ball. That is the third-highest percentage in the league, according to Baseball Savant.

Murakami has also drawn a base on balls, 21.5% of his at-bats thus far, which is the second-most in the MLB behind Athletics' Nick Kurtz. And in the field, he has a .994 fielding percentage in 170 innings at first base.

But, there is another side of the coin, which induces the chaotic nature of his stature. Murakami has struck out 31 times, which could induce some bigger issues later in the season. The White Sox, as a team, are the eighth-worst team in terms of strikeouts at the plate, with 216 in 23 games.

This team is sitting at 9-14 and ranked as the 30th team out of 30, according to The Athletic in their most recent power ranking. They are still in contention for the American League Central, at only four games back on this young season, but Murakami cannot do it all by himself.

Look for the White Sox to potentially make some moves at some point in the coming weeks to try and give Murakami some assistance. They have a superstar in the making in his rookie campaign at the MLB-level.

Surprise high-leverage success has the Athletics looking competitive

Yankees fans won't like MLB roster decision amid Ryan Weathers news

Brewers' Gary Sánchez has unlocked a new skillset in 2026