White Sox 1B Munetaka Murakami out 4 to 6 weeks with a right hamstring injury

LaMond Pope, Chicago Tribune on May 30, 2026

Published in Baseball

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CHICAGO — Munetaka Murakami didn’t sugarcoat how he felt Saturday morning.

“It hurts,” the Chicago White Sox slugger said through an interpreter when asked about his right hamstring. “It hurts.”

Murakami will miss four to six weeks, manager Will Venable said, after suffering a Grade 2 right hamstring strain on Friday. The Sox placed the first baseman on the 10-day injured list ahead of Saturday’s game against the Detroit Tigers at Rate Field.

“One of my goals was to go the full season healthy, but that didn’t really come out well,” Murakami said. “After this injury, I will recover 100% and give it my all each and every day.”

The injury occurred during the third inning on Friday as Murakami beat a throw to first base to avoid grounding into a double play. The training staff checked on Murakami and he exited the game.

“It’s tough,” Venable said. “Obviously, he makes a massive impact on our group, on and off the field. He’s someone that puts so much energy into his work and into other people. I think he’s probably pretty down right now, knowing that that’s going to take a different form here over the next few weeks.

“Just trying to support him and it’s tough, but this is what every single team deals with and you’ve got to find ways to continue to put plays together and play well and play good baseball.”

Murakami is slashing .240/.378/.560 with four doubles, 20 home runs, 41 RBIs, 44 walks, 43 runs and a .938 OPS in 57 games during his first major-league season. He entered Saturday tied for the American League lead in home runs and was second in the AL in RBIs.

“Our (offensive) approach doesn’t change (without Murakami),” Venable said. “But certainly not having Mune is going to make our lineup feel different.”

Miguel Vargas started at first base on Saturday. The Sox called up 2023 first-round draft pick Jacob Gonzalez from Triple-A Charlotte as Saturday’s corresponding move. The left-handed hitting infielder, who had 19 home runs and 62 RBIs this year with the Knights, will be in the mix at first base against right-handed pitching.

“He’s crushing baseballs is what he’s been doing,” Venable said of Gonzalez. “It’s really impressive. You get the reports every day and it seems like there’s at least a homer and a couple of ribbies in there on a nightly basis. So he’s made some real adjustments with his swing and his approach and it’s been paying off so excited to see what it looks like here with us.”

Murakami plans on helping the team any way he can while sidelined.

“It’s really disappointing at this point of the season to be injured,” Murakami said. “But there are a lot of ways to contribute to the team, like cheering on and other stuff. I’ll keep doing that so that we can keep grinding as a team.”

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