One of the premiere signings of the offseason was when the ChiSox brought Munteaka Murakami to the Southside, signing him for a somewhat surprising 2 year $34 Million contract.

Early speculation was that the Japanese slugger would net a longer and more lucrative deal after being posted this winter, but there was some concerns about defensive ability and his propensity to swing and miss that dissuaded many teams from taking a chance on him.

Well it is safe to say Muni is rewarding that faith the White Sox showed in him, as he joined the list of players (talking about you again Chase DeLauter) to hit 3 Home Runs in their first 3 MLB (regular season) games.

While there is tons to be optimistic about, he is currently sporting a 38.5% whiff rate in the early goings. Yes, that is a very small sample, but it’s something we are likely to see continue throughout the season. But I don’t think we’ll hear Southsiders complaining too much if this home run output keeps up.

The White Sox unfortuntately did blow a late lead, allowing six 8th inning runs to finish off their 0-3 opening series against the Brew Crew in Milwaukee… it’s gonna be a long year for the AL Central bottom dweller.

Another fellow “Fresh off the Boat” import from the Land of the Rising Sun — Tatsuya Imai joined the Space Race when the Astros signed him to a 3 year $54 Million deal.

Well… unlike the previous segment, Imai was less than stellar in his opening start for Houston. In only 2.2 IP, Imai walked 4, allowed 4 runs on 3 hits, and threw 38 balls in his 74 pitches.

Obviously you don’t want to sweat a one game sample, but this isn’t quite that. He struggled in his final spring training exhibition too. Against the Space Cowboys, the Astros AAA affiliate, Imai took 79 pitches to throw 3.2 Innings. The inefficiency is something Imai will have to work on.

But perhaps worse than the inefficency, is that the stuff really wasn’t all that impressive

Both of his primary offerings graded out as below average, both had a sub 40% In-Zone% and neither had exciting peripherals outside of some relatively higher velocities.

Something to monitor as the Astros had a real tough time against the Angels this weekend, splitting the series and losing the run differential against the expected bottom feeder of the AL West.

Pardon the horrific pun, but Frank the Tank has imparted another absolutely banger upon his sweeping declaration that he’s not a Bo Bichette guy

The Mets imported Bichette (it counts he was on the Blue Jays) when they signed him to a 3 year $126M. With that kind of dough, mixed with the powder-keg that is the New York media market, there were some LOFTY expectations placed on Bichette to lead the Mets back to the World Series in 2026.

Bichette didn’t do himself many favors this weekend as the Mets took 2 of 3 from the Pirates, but largely did it without Bo’s assistance. Bichette in the first three games went 1-for-14 with 8 strikeouts and the Mets faithful let him hear it.

Not for nothing but I do think bichette handled the situation as well as he could, “If anything I thought it took too long.” he laughed, “I get it, I thought my At-Bats were terrible too.”

I think he will figure it out.

The rookies in this league continue to be absolute freaks. I’ve talked at lengths about DeLauter, McGonigle, Wetherholt, and Murakami. We know Griffin is on his way. But Sal Stewart, Owen Caissie, Kaz Okamoto, and Carson Benge are putting in work as well.

It could be the best rookie class we’ve seen in quite some time

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The Andrew McCutchen Renaissance is going to be a spectacular sight to see

As a Pirates loyalist, choosing the dirtbag Marcell Ozuna — destroying any semblance of defensive flexibility you had — to a contract 10x as expensive as Cutch? Yeah that sucks.

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And continuing with the Pirates… the announcer Greg Brown appears to have a very weird disdain for Oneil Cruz. Listen, I wanted to shoot the guy for the errors behind Skenes on Opening Day, but maybe try to hide it a little better?

Brownie in the past has had trouble hiding his… undertones… when criticizing foreign born players. Good to see nothing has changed for one of baseball’s most

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One more Pirates-adjacent story (cry about it, it’s my newsletter)

Derek Shelton tried arguing against the computers. You never win arguing with the computers