Murakami Becomes 4th Japanese Player in MLB History to Hit 30 Home Runs in a Single Season

Japanese slugger Murakami Munetaka (Chicago White Sox) has reached the 30-home-run mark in his debut season in Major League Baseball (MLB).

Murakami hit his 30th home run of the year with a two-run shot to left field in the first inning of a home game against the Minnesota Twins on the 6th (Korean time), which ended in a 4-6 loss.

With this feat, Murakami became the fourth Japanese player to hit 30 or more home runs in a single season, following Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Dodgers), who has hit 30 home runs for six consecutive years including this season, Hideki Matsui (31 home runs in 2004), and Seiya Suzuki (Chicago Cubs, 32 home runs in 2025).

The most home runs hit by a Korean batter in a single season is 24, set by Choo Shin-soo in 2019.

This year, with Lee Jung-hoo (San Francisco Giants) playing virtually a full-time season, the batting gap between Korean and Japanese big leaguer hitters has widened to its largest margin ever.

Led by Ohtani (30), Murakami (30), Kazuma Okamoto (Toronto Blue Jays, 28), Suzuki (24), and Masataka Yoshida (Boston Red Sox, 5), Japanese batters have combined for over 100 home runs in a single season for the first time in history.

Okamoto is also a rookie who debuted in the big leagues this year.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.