ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Munetaka Murakami’s unique talents at the plate were on display during a short but impactful at-bat in the eighth inning Wednesday against the New York Yankees.
The Chicago White Sox first baseman connected on a first-pitch curveball from Paul Blackburn and drove it 404 feet over the wall in left-center for a game-tying home run.
“That location is a pitcher’s pitch, early curveball down and away,” Sox director of hitting Ryan Fuller said Thursday at Rate Field. “His ability to stay on the baseball and stay through that pitch is so special.
“But then it’s the physical gifts he has too. The bat speed, the physicality to be able to hit the ball out of the park. Most guys, if they swing at that, it’s hit off the end, a pop-up to the shortstop.
“You see the special gifts Mune has where even when he didn’t hit the ball perfectly, he’s still able to muscle it out of here. You see those special attributes and you just enjoy watching it.”
Murakami, who is second on the Sox and tied for seventh in the American League with 23 home runs, has been a key contributor to a team that sits atop the AL Central standings entering a weekend series against the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.
As July comes to an end, Fuller offered some offensive observations.
Murakami was one of three players to represent the Sox at the All-Star Game with third baseman Miguel Vargas and center fielder Tristan Peters. Vargas’ progress since joining the Sox in a July 2024 trade is an example Fuller uses for players throughout the organization.
“With the Dodgers, one of their best prospects,” Fuller said. “He comes over here, gets hit in the gut a little bit, has to make adjustments. Where he is now is incredible.”
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Peters’ season also has been an “incredible story,” Fuller said.
“It’s no secret, when camp broke and he’s on the team, he was asked to, ‘Hey, you’re going to bunt a lot and play really good defense,'” Fuller said. “You fast forward, and he’s an All-Star and one of our best hitters.”
Peters, whose walk-off walk with the bases loaded wrapped up Thursday’s 2-1 victory against the Yankees, was hitless in his last 17 at-bats coming into Friday.
“Like all these guys, you were an All-Star, now you need to make adjustments,” Fuller said. “There’s going to be parts of the zone that you covered before that they’re just not going to go to. They’re going to attack different parts (and) we have to do a really good job of combating that. And he’s working through it.”
Shortstop Colson Montgomery is among the Sox players going through his first full big-league season. Called up last July, Montgomery hit 21 home runs in 71 games in 2025. He has 24 homers in 102 games this season.
The left-handed-hitting Montgomery entered Friday slashing .265/.336/.537 with eight homers against left-handed pitchers. He had a .195/.281/.408 slash line with 16 homers against right-handers.
“Lefties hitting lefties is one of the hardest things to do in baseball,” Fuller said. “You’re doing something that is so hard that some guys spend their whole career trying to figure out, and you’re doing it. That’s a strength. How can we take that approach and tailor it to the righties too?
“He’ll be the first one to tell you, regardless of who’s on the mound, I’m trying to hit a line drive over the shortstop’s head, I’m trying to take out the shortstop. So now it’s how do we make the small adjustments physically to make sure that he’s staying closed, staying on the ball as he is against lefties versus righties.”
Fuller said of rookie outfielders Sam Antonacci (hitting .289 since June 1) and Braden Montgomery (.288 over his last 14 games): “These guys are so impressive and they love coming to the ballpark and working with each other every day. That’s a huge piece to it.”
A big piece of the future, Roch Cholowsky, already is making an impression in the organization shortly after being drafted with the No. 1 pick.
“You hear all the great stuff about Roch, (and) getting to spend time with him, everything is true — leader, loves baseball, loves being one of the boys,” Fuller said. “At (the recent) draft camp in Charlotte, he took every single guy that was drafted out for a steak dinner. A leader, just a really cool dude that wants to be a part of what’s going on here.”