Yakult Swallows Murakami Munetaka (23), who is participating in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), is looking forward to winning the championship without being shaken by the visit of the president of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Japanese media Nikkan 메이저사이트 Sports reported on the 18th, “Samurai Japan (Japan national team) main gun Murakami maintained his composure despite the visit of the Dodgers leaders.”
Murakami is a leading Japanese home run hitter with a batting average of .281 (543 hits in 1934 at-bats), 160 homers, 430 RBIs, and an OPS of .988 in 553 Japanese professional baseball games. Last season, he recorded a batting average of 3.18 li (155 hits in 487 at-bats), 56 homers, 134 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.168 in 141 games, achieving the triple crown, and at the same time breaking the Japanese record for the most home runs, enthralling the Japanese archipelago.
Japan, which is trying to win the championship for the first time in 14 years since 2009, has joined the national team with outstanding hitters playing in the major leagues, such as Shohei Otani (Angels), Seiya Suzuki (Cubs), Masataka Yoshida (Boston), and Lars Nuthba (St. Louis). . However, Murakami is not pushed back at all and is expected to play an active part in the center line.
On the 18th, Dodgers Andrew Friedman, president of baseball operations, and other high-ranking officials visited the Japanese national team’s camp, which is training in Miyazaki, Japan. President Friedman observed players who have the potential to enter the major leagues in the future, such as Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Orix) and Rocky Sasaki (Chiba Lotte). Murakami is also one of the players Friedman watched.
Murakami, who signed a three-year contract with his team Yakult this winter, is highly likely to advance to the major leagues through posting when the contract extension ends. Nikkan Sports said, “Yakult allowed Murakami to post after the 2025 season. If foreign players under the age of 25 are required to sign amateur contracts in the major leagues, if the rules change, they may seek to enter the major leagues one year earlier,” he explained, explaining Murakami’s possibility of advancing to the major leagues.
Murakami also said, “I feel like I’m here. I am not very conscious of it. Right now, I am only thinking about winning the WBC. The evaluation is done by a third party,” he said, stressing that he would maintain his composure and focus only on winning the WBC.
Murakami, who hit balls that went over the fence several times in batting practice, said, “I hit through various trials and errors. He said, “I didn’t like it at first, so I thought what to do, but in the end I was able to hit it calmly.