Murakami Munetaka (Yakult Swallows), who won three batting crowns last year, fell into a serious slump at the beginning of this season. This is the pace to set a new record for the most strikeouts in a single season in Japanese professional baseball history.
On the 26th, Murakami started as a 3rd baseman in the 4th match against the Yokohama DeNA Baystars held at Yokohama Stadium in Japan. He went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. He was helplessly swinging on the outside ball. He posted one RBI on an infield grounder.
With two outs and second base in the first inning, Murakami struck out on a swing with a 131km outside changeup from a full count against Yokohama lefty starter Kenta Ishida.
In the 3rd inning when the score was tied 0-0, chances were set for 1 out and 2nd and 3rd base. The moment he was expecting a shot, Murakami hit Ishida’s 130 km cutter, but the first baseman grounded out. The third base runner dashed home and scored the first run, and Murakami scored an RBI.
Murakami, who started as the lead batter in the 6th inning with the score tied 1-1, struck out Ishida’s 144km fastball from a full count with a miss. And in the 8th inning, where he was trailing 1-4, he struck out with a miss on a 148 km fastball from setup man Hiromu Ise in the 8th inning. 메이저놀이터
Murakami went 1-for-19 with 13 strikeouts in his last six games. The season performance is the bottom. He is batting just 1.5 7 Lee (11-for-70) with 10 RBI, an on-base percentage of .314, and a slugging percentage of .286. Long hits are two home runs and three doubles.
In particular, he leads the league with 33 strikeouts. The Japanese media said, “If you play all 143 games at this pace, arithmetically, you will strike out 224. He goes beyond Bryant’s 204 strikeouts, which is the worst ever.”
Murakami achieved the triple crown for batting, home runs and RBI last year. In 141 games, he was very active with a batting average of 3.1 8, 56 home runs and 134 RBIs, breaking the record for most home runs in a season by a Japanese player. He also won the Central League MVP for the second year in a row.
But he’s having a nightmare this April. The only hopeful factor is the batting average in scoring position. In the game that day, he only grounded out the infield with 1 out and 2nd and 3rd base, but he is recording 6 hits in 19 at-bats (2 homers) and a batting average of 3.16.