Munetaka Murakami is the power threat the Orioles need

While pitching was clearly the Orioles’ biggest need coming into this offseason, that doesn’t mean the offense was without its holes. After all, Baltimore went from having Top 10 offenses in 2023 and 2024 to the 24th offense in baseball last year. After the trade deadline saw Ramón Laureano, Ryan O’Hearn and Cedric Mullins head out the door, it was clear the O’s would need an offensive revamp to return to relevance in 2026.

The acquisition of Taylor Ward helps replace what Baltimore lost in Laureano, but this team is still in the market for a left-handed bat that can bring back the Turn and Burn O’Hearn brought to the black and orange. While many in Birdland will clamor for one of the big free agent Kyles—Tucker and Schwarber—today we offer an alternative: Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami.

At just 25 years old, Murakami has already established himself as one of the best power hitters in NPB history. In just under 900 career games, the left-handed hitting corner infielder amassed 246 home runs for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows to go along with a career .557 slugging percentage. In 2022, as a 22-year-old, Murakami delivered one of the most legendary seasons in Japanese history. The sweet-swinging lefty took home MVP honors while winning the Triple Crown with a .318 average, 56 home runs and 134 RBIs. The 56 long balls broke Sadaharu Oh’s record for most homers in a single season by a Japanese player—a record that had stood since 1964.

The two-time NPB MVP was limited to just 56 games in 2025 due to an oblique injury, but was still able to swat 22 home runs and collect 47 RBIs. All of his advanced numbers also paint the picture of player who could do serious damage in the States. He posted a max exit velocity of 116.5 last season in Japan, similar to the exit velos we saw from Schwarber, Pete Alonso and Ronald Acuña last year. And while Murakami isn’t Josh Naylor or José Ramírez on the base paths, he does have 76 career stolen bases for the Swallows.

Murakami was also a big part of Japan’s World Baseball Classic-winning team in 2023, hitting a walk-off double to propel Japan past Mexico in the semifinal and launching a game-tying solo home run in the championship game.

The big risk that comes with Murakami and his prodigious power is his equally prodigious strikeout numbers. Through eight seasons in the NPB, the infielder has a strikeout rate of 31.3%—a number that would’ve been the fifth-worst K rate in MLB last season. That’s not to say that the high strikeout numbers would prohibit him from success in the big leagues; All-Stars Schwarber, Byron Buxton, Eugenio Suarez, Riley Greene and James Wood all posted strikeout rates above 27% last season. The concern with Murakami is that his propensity for getting punched out could get worse as he adapts to better pitching in the majors.

Finding comparable contracts for previously posted Japanese sluggers is no easy task. There are only two full-time Japanese position players in MLB right now: outfielder/DH Seiya Suzuki with the Cubs and DH Masataka Yoshida with the Red Sox. When Suzuki signed with the Cubs as a 27-year-old in 2022, Chicago gave him a five-year, $85M contract. The Red Sox one-upped that deal a year later, inking a 29-year-old Yoshida to a five-year, $90M contract in 2023.

Murakami’s age and defensive upside mean he’ll likely demand an even bigger deal than what Yoshida received three years ago. The infielder will be roughly 18 months younger than Suzuki was when he debuted with the Cubs, and more than three years younger than Yoshida was at the time of his debut in Boston. And while the two established Japanese MLBers are defensively limited corner outfielders/DH types, Murakami is a competent 3B with the flexibility to slide over to first.

As a younger, more defensively valuable player, it shouldn’t be surprising if Murakami commands a deal in the neighborhood of $100M/5 years. Add on top of that the $10-20M posting fee the Orioles would need to pay to the Yakult Swallows, and acquiring Murakami would undoubtedly represent the biggest free agent signing of the Mike Elias era.

Adding the Japanese slugger would only make sense if the Orioles trade Ryan Mountcastle and open up playing time at 1B. Currently, Mounty, Coby Mayo and Samuel Basallo seem poised to split reps at first. If the O’s end up moving on from Mountcastle, it’d open up an opportunity for Murakami to split time between 3B and 1B and provide the O’s with increased lineup flexibility.

With the Japanese slugger in the fold, Baltimore could trot out a lineup against righties with Jordan Westburg at 3B, Murakami at 1B, Basallo at DH and Adley Rutschman at C—while also being able to slide any of those players to a different position. Westburg has also struggled with injuries each of the last two seasons, meaning bringing in an offensive threat who can also provide cover at the hot corner would be a win-win for the Orioles.

Signing the Japanese star could also lay the foundation for the Orioles to attract additional Japanese talent in the future. The Orioles have never signed a player through the posting system, and there are only three former Japanese Orioles—Koji Uehara, Shintaro Fujinami and Tomoyuki Sugano. After signing Sugano last offseason, making the much bigger splash with Murakami could help the Orioles establish a pipeline of talent from Japan to Baltimore.

With Schwarber and Tucker each likely to command $25-30M/yr on their free agent deals, Murakami offers the cheaper, higher upside alternative to those established All-Stars. He still comes with a decently high price tag, and if spending ~$20M/yr on Murakami keeps the Orioles out of the starting pitcher market, that price tag wouldn’t be worth it. However, if his signing doesn’t affect the pitching budget, the Japanese star could be the piece that completes the Orioles’ 2026 lineup.