The New York Yankees may not need a third baseman anymore. They solved that black hole for the next couple of seasons by trading for Colorado Rockies star Ryan McMahon.
But that hasn’t stopped the Yankees’ fanbase from frothing at the mouth over a potentially available superstar from across the Pacific.
Munetaka Murakami is likely to be made available at the end of the 2025 NPB season. He’s a Japanese superstar who holds his league’s single-season home run record for a native player, having hit 56 in 2022.
The Athletic’s Jim Bowden predicted earlier in the year that the Yankees were one of the favorites to get Murakami, writing this:
“Murakami profiles as a .240 to .260 type hitter in MLB with legitimate 30-home run power. 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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The connection isn’t just limited to media reporting, though.
Yankees fans have another reason to think Murakami may be coming to join the pinstripes.
It stems from this home run, his first after a long injury absence. You have to stick around for the celebration.
Welcome back, Munetaka Murakami!
He homers in his 1st AB since April 17.
— Yakyu Cosmopolitan (@yakyucosmo) July 29, 2025
That leap up with the angled, firm right arm? That’s what the Yankees do.
Specifically, you won’t see Aaron Judge homer and then not do that.
It’s just a celebration, one that Murakami and his teammates probably thought was cool and decided to try themselves.
But who’s to say that he doesn’t want to do it with Judge himself?
The Yankees do have a lot of left-handed bats, so maybe Murakami doesn’t quite fit the lineup. But the Yanks have had success with a legendary Japanese slugger before, Hideki Matsui. They won a World Series together.
If Murakami brought that kind of success to the Bronx, he’d be a legend there forever.
And besides, he already knows the celebration.
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