Third baseman Munetaka Murakami is eager to put his anticlimactic 2023 season behind him and put the Yakult Swallows back on track with another Triple Crown this year.
Two years ago, Murakami led the Central League with 56 home runs, 134 RBIs and a .318 batting average to power the Swallows to a second straight pennant. Afterward, he received a three-year contract and spoke of moving to Major League Baseball upon its conclusion.
Things appeared to be going his way in the final games of the 2023 World Baseball Classic in Miami, where his semifinal-winning ninth-inning double and his game-tying home run in the final boosted Samurai Japan to the championship.
But the young slugger struggled once the regular season began, and the Swallows followed suit, sinking to fifth place.
"I want to win another Triple Crown. And if I'm able, I think the team can win another pennant," Murakami said at the club's spring training facility in Urasoe, Okinawa Prefecture. "At any rate, the only thing I'm thinking about is getting good results."
Murakami, who had dominated the league with his ability to drive inside pitches, has been intent on reclaiming his form in camp, using a bat in drills with a center of gravity closer to the handle.
"I'm conscious of where I hit the ball as I rotate my body," he said. "It feels like I'm keeping the bat inside and swinging outward."
On Wednesday, five days after turning 24, Murakami felt tightness in his left gluteal muscles, and he has since been on an individualized training menu.
"The symptoms aren't serious," Swallows manager Shingo Takatsu said. "We've placed some restrictions on him so it doesn't get worse, and hopefully he gets better day by day."
Things have been tough for Murakami since he matched Hall of Famer Sadaharu Oh in 2022 as the second Japan-born player to hit 55 home runs in a season, and then surpassed him with 56.
In a long 2023 that began with the WBC, Murakami hit 31 regular-season homers and drove in 84 runs, 50 fewer than the year before.
And though the next WBC is not scheduled until 2026, Murakami is looking to win another championship for Japan in November in the Premier12, when hopefully he will once more be the hitter who raises the bar for everyone else.
"I want to be a role model for the players new to the national team," said Murakami, who on Saturday was training indoors and hitting off a tee, taking that comeback one day at a time.
"I'm doing just those things I'm able to."
