White Sox’s Munetaka Murakami: The secret to his homerun streak is “Scooping up from underneath!

Home ranking is also within reach! Evolving Form” in the Majors

“Japanese sensation!”

The play-by-play announcer often praised him as a “Japanese sensation! The announcers often praised the batting of Munetaka Murakami (26), who joined the White Sox this season and has been hitting home runs in bunches!　He is on pace to hit 67 home runs in a year, which is good enough for the title of home run king.

When I was with the Yakult baseball team, I swung by tapping the ball from above and applying backspin in order to make the ball fly farther. Since coming to the majors, he has scooped the ball up from below. His form is completely aimed at home runs. In the majors, batting average is not valued very highly. Home runs and OPS (an index that adds on-base percentage and slugging percentage) are the things that are evaluated.

said Takashi Kawamura, an expert in motion analysis and professor at the University of Tsukuba’s College of Physical Education. Let’s listen to Kawamura’s explanation of Murakami’s evolution while looking at a series of photos of his form.

Many of the major players bend over to gather power at the start of the stroke. This is because they have strong hip joints. Japanese players who do not have such strong hip joints, like Murakami in (1), have a natural stance with their back straight and their weight balanced on both feet. This allows them to play with any kind of ball because they have no peculiarities in their stance.

The difference from his days with the Yakult baseball team is apparent from (2).

When I was in Japan, I raised my right foot a little higher. Now the width of the lift is smaller. This is probably to adapt to major league pitching, where there is not much time between take-back and release.

The most significant change is in the movements of (3) and (4).

In ③, the left shoulder has dropped. When I was with the Yakult, the line between my shoulders was almost parallel to the ground, but now there is an incline. By daring to lower the left shoulder, the swing is not horizontal but sinking. The reason why the form does not collapse is because the right foot is firmly stepping on the ground to create a “wall.
In (4), the player uses the “wall” to swing the bat up from the sinking position. By swinging in a V-shaped trajectory from (3) to (4), you are scooping up the ball from below. This is a form that makes it easier to send the ball farther.

The new hitting style is to strike the ball at an angle of about 30 degrees, which is considered ideal for sending the ball far away.

Swing speed does not drop until the finish of ⑤, and the follow-through is large. A straight line is formed from the shoulder to the right foot, so you can see that the power of the entire body is efficiently transferred to the batted ball.
Murakami won the Triple Crown in Japan, but in his last two years with Yakult, he was unable to produce the results he wanted. Perhaps he was experimenting with a “scoop-up swing” to hit home runs with an eye toward moving to the majors. In fact, after crossing the ocean to play in the U.S., his form seems to have solidified.”

How well will he perform in his first year in the majors if he does not get injured?

He said, “I don’t think I can expect a high batting average because of my swing, which has a lot of body movement. On the other hand, he can hit a lot of home runs. I think he can hit .230, hit 40 home runs, and score 100 runs.

The first Japanese player to win the home run crown in his first year in the majors. Murakami’s “Sensation! Murakami’s momentum just won’t stop.

Related Articles
Samurai Major Leaguers Special
Shohei Ohtani: “Growth and Challenges” revealed by statistical data