Los Angeles Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, fresh off a World Series MVP performance, appears to be doing some recruiting.
This week, Yamamoto was spotted at dinner with top Japanese free agent Munetaka Murakami, who was posted for MLB teams on Nov. 8 and has until Dec. 22 to sign.
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Yamamoto and Murakami were teammates on Team Japan in the most recent World Baseball Classic. They both played in Nippon Professional Baseball.
Murakami is coming to MLB after eight seasons in Japan. The 25-year-old is coming off a 2025 season in which he slashed .286/.392/.659 with 24 home runs, 52 RBIs and an OPS of 1.051 across 69 games. In his best season in 2022, he appeared in 141 games, slashing .318/.458/.710 with 56 home runs, 134 RBIs and an OPS of 1.168.
Overall, Murakami hit 265 home runs over eight seasons in Japan.
Murakami has some defensive concerns, and doesn’t exactly fit on the Dodgers’ current roster as he’s a corner infielder. The Dodgers picked up Max Muncy’s $10 million club option to play third base, and Freddie Freeman has two more years on his deal to play first base. The designated hitter spot, of course, is taken up by Shohei Ohtani.
Nevertheless, the Dodgers can never be counted out of a free agent sweepstakes, especially for a Japanese player. The Dodgers have dominated the market in recent offseasons, signing Ohtani, Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. All three played critical roles in LA’s World Series win this past season.
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Photo Credit: Yukihito Taguchi-USA TODAY Sports
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4 Responses
Remember when Max Muncy was offering to move from 1st base to 2nd or 3rd so that the Dodgers could sign Freddie Freeman? There was a lot of talk touting how good he would be at 2nd base. So the Tommy Edman can move to CF and Pages to RF and Teo to LF. Lastly Kim will be the super utility man especially being able to play in LF late in games to replace Teo and even bring in a lefty bat with speed. Just don’t make it more than a 3 year contract for Murakami.
And of course this is all “if” everyone mentioned stays healthy which of course never happens. Lastly still have Kike and Miggy Ro and replacements and late innings guys.
Interesting development. These Japanese players revere Ohtani and Yamamoto and I imagine they would relish playing along side of them. Especially, coming off back-2-back WS championships.
Dodgers brass said the organization’s goal is to paint Japan blue and these last two years have sort of cemented LA as a pipeline for Japanese players in this era of baseball. For Munetaka Murakami, there are so many reasons to join the Dodgers.
This screams AI.