PHOENIX -- The White Sox can't take back Munetaka Murakami's first impression of his accommodations at Camelback Ranch.
"It was completely funny," Murakami said via interpreter of his misspelled locker nameplate. "I thought it was a joke. No hard feelings to the organization. It was crazy funny."
Part of the reason Murakami let this incident roll off his back does seem to be his love of a good bit. He deadpanned while reeling off "Que lo que, tranquilo" when a Telemundo reporter asked him about Spanish phrases he's picked up. He just repeated "it feels great" when asked about the MLB ball seeming livelier than that of NPB. He smiled through what has to be the umpteenth question about bidets.
"Basically, what I did was told them how great the bidet is," Murakami said via interpreter. "It’s good for the environment too, right? Everybody uses too much toilet paper."
A gentler read is that Murakami has observed a lot of the White Sox trying to meet him more than halfway throughout a rare process. When Sox coaches emphasize that he needs time to adjust to the schedule, they're reflecting what Murakami himself has said about practices being longer and more intensive here. Murakami will deliver a "thank you," or talk about his "backhand" during defensive work, or even break out a "I don't speak English" with good pronunciation and a wry smile, but said his efforts to branch out have been matched by how much Japanese he's been getting back from teammates.
"The person who stands out is Chase [Meidroth], he’s coming with mōhitotsu — it means one more," Murakami said via interpreter. "I was very nervous at first but teammates, the locker room staff, even the coaches, everyone's really, really nice, welcoming. So I'm getting used to it now and happy to be here."
Enjoying Sox Machine?
There's clear bias in that his live at-bats against Sox pitchers have grabbed the most attention, but Murakami is definitely striking the ball like someone who is trying to ramp up for an international tournament, even if the end result can be something like a hard comebacker leaving a bruise on Mike Vasil's hindquarters.
"I've been in center field a lot when he's been taking [batting practice] and the way the ball is flying over my head, you can tell the difference," said Brooks Baldwin.
"It’s real power, whatever ballpark or whatever ball he’s hitting," said assistant GM Josh Barfield. "It’s real 70- -- at least -- grade power. So, I don’t think there’s any questions about how that’s going to translate."
"It’s freakish. He’s got the juice," said Colson Montgomery. "He is really smart. He has really good understanding of his swing and his process. That’s something you can respect."
Still, he says there's adjustments he's going through for playing more first base and dealing with the speed of the game on defense, and he explained the recent decision to stay in camp until Feb. 27 as a mutually beneficial one.
"By extending it to the 27th, I get more at-bats, get into games more," Murakami said via interpreter. "It helps more both Team Japan and the White Sox, and this is what I really wanted to do; get used to the games and get the most at-bats."
"He is an open book, and somebody who is looking for every edge possible," said Will Venable.
As much as SoxFest seemed like a demonstration of Montgomery taking center stage, Murakami's handling of large crowds of fans and media have revealed another young White Sox player ready to take the spotlight.
"I'm really used to have these types of crowds, fans around me," Murakami said via interpreter. "First overall, is to win games, and to really contribute to winning games. That’s the biggest thing I can do. But I want to interact with fans as much as possible so that they get to know me and how I am as a person."
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Montgomery's 2025 season contained a half-dozen shocking revelations, but there was a time in his prospect progression where him playing ~500 innings of metrically impressive major league defense at shortstop would be the most surprising development.
Billy Carlson might be the most impressive defensive shortstop in the minors pretty soon, a rock-solid shortstop projection is the most exciting thing about Roch Cholowsky's profile, and, quiet as kept, William Bergolla Jr. can really pick it too. But Montgomery's defense -- and the plus power alongside it -- has made it clear that someone will have to come and take the position away from him.
"We saw him at third base last year a little bit, similar to Mune, you've got to keep that club in the bag," said Venable, who was making a larger point about versatility before pausing to assert that Montgomery would only be doing the bare minimum work at third. "For Colson, it's not gonna be a 50-50 split in his work. Maybe it's a 90-10 [shortstop], or a 95-5."
"It was the consistency of the routine plays," Barfield said. "He did such a good job of that. And then being such a stud athlete, he was able to make some plays that most guys on the field can’t make. The throwing is something he worked on in the minor leagues, the consistency there, the carry. But it was never an issue in the big leagues. He made throws from different arm angles, from off balance."
At 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, Montgomery doesn't have the foot speed of the typical major league shortstop, but has the wingspan and arm strength to make others envious. After all the years of Sox personnel touting his athleticism, he felt the primary adjustment to the speed of the major league game was mental, rather than physical.
"it was just me challenging myself and like my pregame routines and stuff, and me and [third base coach Justin Jirschele] and some of the other guys put together a really good routine before the game of what to do and some checklist things," Montgomery said. "I have pretty good arm strength. I think another thing that’s really big is your internal clock. Reading how hard the ball is hit to you, and doing your scouting on the runner, and that’s one of the first things that Jirsch tells us.
"There’s a guy that really gets out of the box well, you only have one or two shuffles and you gotta get rid of the ball. That’s more what I prioritize, is the inner clock. I feel like if I catch the ball and I get rid of it as soon as I can, it doesn’t matter how hard I throw the ball."
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The literal arrival of Murakami and the more figurative arrival of Montgomery's power has Andrew Benintendi, on the heels of back-to-back 20-homer seasons, wondering if his role on the offense should change a bit.
"Obviously 20 homers was nice, but I still think I’m searching for a consistent hitter, to be a consistent hitter," Benintendi said. "The last years I’ve kind of gone for more slug as opposed to on-base and average-wise, but now obviously with some guys with some more pop, my job will probably be to get on base now and score some runs. That’s something I’ll talk to the hitting coaches about and we’ll go over."
Though at the time, Benintendi's shift in approach seemed in line with larger league trends, rather than team needs, which were too multitudinous for one left fielder to address. He's still only 31 but has appeared in parts of 10 big-league seasons, which is more than long enough to notice a spike in velocity and lab-designed breaking balls, in turn triggering a leaguewide hitting environment where director of pitching Brian Bannister said "hitters aren't swinging for batting average anymore or contact, they're trying to get their A-swing off and do damage."
Furthermore, Rate Field -- on balance -- is a friendly environment for left-handed power and Benintendi was seemingly making good use of it to offset 2025 representing his lowest full-season contact rate (77.4 percent). Trotting around the bases rather than running also seemed easier on Benintendi's achy left Achilles, but something on his mind for 2026 is adjusting his training regimen to keep himself healthy, in a way that might not be as conducive to a power-over-hit approach.
"Everything feels good right now," Benintendi said. "My weight right now is down, try to take some stress off the Achilles. Offseason was great, no issues there. We’ll monitor it, but right now it feels 100 percent."
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Sunday is the report date for all position players, but two players traveling from Venezuela might be a day or two delayed. Venable said Lenyn Sosa just welcomed the birth of a new child, and that Luisangel Acuña (who obviously recently spoke with Chris Getz on the phone) could be slightly delayed by visa issues.
