Murakami struck out 184 times in his second year and still played every game. Three seasons later he hit 56 and won the Triple Crown

Munetaka Murakami's second season produced the numbers Japanese writers still quote. Web Sportiva reported in November 2019 that he hit .231, the lowest among qualified Central League batters, and that his 184 strikeouts were the league's worst. He also hit 36 home runs, third in the league, with 96 RBIs by Baseball Channel's count and 98 by Sportiva's. Nikkan Gendai wrote that then-manager Atsushi Ogawa played him in all 143 games.

Ogawa's own account, given to web Sportiva after the 2022 season, is that his first year was for defense: Murakami had been a catcher in high school and was learning third base, and the club wanted more time even though farm reports said his bat was ready. He hit about 17 home runs on the farm that year. In November 2019 his old high school coach Hiroyasu Sakai told Sportiva that Murakami was the only player to return heavier from the Taiwan winter league, a story passed to him by a club official. It is one coach's retelling.

The payoff came on Oct. 3, 2022 at Jingu Stadium. Daily Sports reported that Murakami opened the seventh inning with a first-pitch 151 km/h fastball to right for his 56th home run, in an 8-2 win over DeNA on the last day of the season. It passed Oh's 55 and left only Wladimir Balentien's 60 in 2013 ahead of him. He had gone 13 games and 60 plate appearances without a home run before it. Baseball Channel and SPAIA gave his final line as .318, 56 home runs, 134 RBIs.

Daily Sports called him the youngest Triple Crown winner at 22, and the first of the Reiwa era. After an earlier RBI single he said he wanted to give a win to three retiring players. We could not confirm his 2022 strikeout total in the sources we read, so we leave it out.