The New York Yankees are always in the conversation when a big-name free agent becomes available.
And this latest possibility would allow the Yanks to bring back memories of Hideki Matsui by landing a Japanese power-hitting superstar.
Munetaka Murakami is trending toward being made available at the end of the 2025 NPB season. If he is, expect the Yankees to make a run at him.
Murakami holds the NPB single-season home run record for a Japanese-born player, having hit 56 in 2022.
He has a career slugging percentage of .544 with 242 homers in eight seasons.
“Murakami profiles as a .240 to .260 type hitter in MLB with legitimate 30-home run power,” The Athletic’s Jim Bowden wrote. “Defensively, he’s below average at third base and adequate at first base. He’s also played some left field this season for the first time in his career.”
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Bowden lists the Yankees along with the Red Sox, Tigers, Mariners, Rangers and Padres as teams that would have interest.
In Bowden’s ranking of 2025-26 free agents, he has Murakami seventh, behind Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso, Kyle Schwarber, Bo Bichette and Cody Bellinger.
Murakami isn’t a sure thing, because there’s always a question of how players will adjust going from one league to another.
But the Yankees could be in a spot where they need to make an offseason splash to slow down the Mets’ spending a bit. Murakami could be their guy.
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