One of the best stories of the 2026 baseball season will likely be put on pause.
White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami exited Friday’s 4-3 win over the Tigers early with a hamstring issue that the team later said was a strain. Manager Will Venable told reporters that the slugger is likely heading to the injured list.
The White Sox, in a corresponding move, are going to call up Jacob Gonzalez from Triple-A, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported, saying Murakami is likely to miss a few weeks of action.
Gonzalez, the No. 15 overall pick in the 2023 draft, is the team’s No. 23 prospect on MLB Pipeline.
“Nothing official. Got to continue the evaluation, but it might be a couple weeks,” Venable told reporters, according to ESPN.
Murakami appeared to injure himself in the bottom of the third inning on Friday when he beat out a throw to first base to avoid a double play. He grabbed at his right hamstring as he walked back to the bag and was seen wincing in pain.
Murakami came over from Japan this season on a two-year, $34 million contract, as his market never fully materialized.
But if there were any concerns about how his game would play stateside, he has assuaged any of those fears by flashing the power he was well-known for in Nippon Professional Baseball.
His 20 home runs through 57 games are tied with the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez for most in the American League. He has a .240/.378/.560 slash line with 44 walks and 80 strikeouts across 200 at-bats.
If it is indeed Gonzalez coming up, the White Sox are getting a red-hot bat from the International League. Gonzalez has belted 19 homers with a .317 and 1.087 OPS this year, his fourth year in the minor leagues.
