White Sox Make Move After Murakami Injury Update
The Chicago White Sox were generating some national buzz, including getting spotlighted in a recent article when they took two of three from the Cubs two weekends ago.
It was a moment worth celebrating and the presence of Munetaka Murakami went a long way into getting national interest focused on the White Sox for the right reasons following three straight seasons of at least 100 losses.
Now the interest will center on how the White Sox withstand losing Murakami for four to six weeks due to a strained right hamstring.
How did Murakami get injured?
Many hamstring injuries occur on seemingly innocent and routine plays and Murakami's injury falls under that description.
Long before the White Sox beat the Tigers on a game-ending two-run homer by Miguel Vargas in the 10th inning, Murakami beat out a grounder to second and reached base while feeling pain in his right leg.
A day later, Murakami was diagnosed with a Grade 2 strain, the second-worst type of injury. The injury will cost him four to six weeks and if all goes well, it is possible the power-hitting first baseman could return before the All-Star break.
"He's probably pretty down right now, knowing that's going to take a different form here over the next few weeks," White Sox manager Will Venable told reporters. "This is what every single team deals with, and you've got to try to find ways to continue to put plays together and play well and play good baseball."
How was Murakami performing before the injury?
The White Sox signed Murakami to a two-year, $34 million contract in the offseason after many teams were skeptical of him and they were proven correct in making the move.
While his average is .240, Murakami provided strong evidence of his power. His 20 homers were tied with a resurgent Yordan Alvarez for the AL lead and were putting the White Sox in position to have the AL home run champion for the first time since Dick Allen hit 36 in 1976.
Murakami's injury will disrupt his prolific pace of 57 homers, 117 RBIs and 125 walks but if his production continues, he might become the seventh Rookie of the Year in team history and first since Jose Abreu in 2014.
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Perhaps the most impressive stat about Murakami is his quick start amongst Japanese-born players. His 20 homers through 57 games are actually 11 more than Shohei Ohtani at this point in his rookie season with the Angels 2018.
What is the White Sox schedule like in Murakami's absence?
The White Sox improved to 30-27 after Murakami was hurt and have been the AL's second wild-card team for a few weeks. For context on how bad the White Sox were in recent seasons, they did not reach 30 wins in 2025 until their 89th game, the 123rd game in 2024 and the 69th game in 2023.
Chicago is 12-12 against opponents who began Saturday with at least a .500 record. After playing Detroit and Minnesota, the White Sox will go through a gauntlet without Murakami since they play 12 straight games against the Phillies, Braves, Dodgers and Yankees through June 18.
After those difficult games, the White Sox will face the first-place Guardians seven times before the All-Star break and hope their deficit is not much wider than their current gap of three games in the AL Central.
The hope is the White Sox have enough other talent to withstand Murakami's absence and the likes of Colson Montgomery (.227, 13 homers, 34 RBIs, .786 OPS) and Vargas (.235, 13 homers, 34 RBIs, .850 OPS) can help overcome Murakami's absence.
Who is replacing Murakami on the roster?
Jacob Gonzalez is a name people might not know unless they are in fantasy leagues where teams carry prospects for depth purposes and activate those players in the event of an injury.
Gonzalez was not in the lineup for Saturday but was recalled to take Murakami's roster spot and has played multiple infield positions for Triple-A Charlotte. He is Chicago's No. 23 prospect according to Baseball America and MLB.com and was hitting .317 with 19 homers and 62 RBIs while producing a 1.087 OPS with Charlotte, where had hits in eight straight at-bats before getting the call from the White Sox.
While Gonzalez is taking Murakami's roster spot for now, expect Vargas to get the majority of time at first base. Vargas started there Saturday and made 55 starts there last season when Chicago saw eight players get at least one start at first base.
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This story was originally published May 30, 2026 at 12:56 PM.