Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns is back in Japan, keeping tabs on NPB slugger Munetaka Murakami, as reported by the Yakyu Cosmopolitan.
The 25-year-old third baseman has developed into one of Japan’s premier sluggers with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, hitting 30-plus home runs in five of the last six seasons, including a 56-home-run, 134-RBI campaign in 2022.
In 27 games this season, he has six home runs and 13 RBI while dealing with injuries. With Stearns in attendance, he bashed a walk-off two-run home run on Tuesday against the Yokohama DeNa Baystars.
A below-average third baseman defensively, Murakami can also play first base. Of course, that clashes with the hypothetical scenario that the Mets can retain franchise slugger Pete Alonso to a long-term contract.
Munetaka Murakami tattoos a walk-off 2-run homer!
— Yakyu Cosmopolitan (@yakyucosmo) August 12, 2025
Murakami’s future MLB team would have to make the call on whether or not to invest the time to up his defense at the hot corner, but in New York, it could provide another option at the position with both Brett Baty and Mark Vientos failing to run away with the starting job across the last three seasons. Ronny Mauricio’s plate discipline has also cast doubt on his viability there, as well.
Also seeing time in the outfield, any semblance of versatility would boost his value to Stearns, who has preached that since taking over as president of baseball operations following the 2023 season. That, of course, is an added bonus considering his bat.
Not only does Murakami have 228 home runs in 850 career games, but his career on-base percentage is flirting with .400 while his OPS is over .940.
