If you haven't yet read this morning's White Sox Minor Keys, it opens with some data for Braden Montgomery that wasn't readily available at Birmingham. It includes some of the loudest contact in the minors, along with an in-zone whiff rate that can suppress enthusiasm, at least about the idea of a smooth transition to the majors.
That said, Jesse Rogers' article on Munetaka Murakami's surprisingly easy acclimation to Major League Baseball -- and the second-guessing it inspires around the league -- made one of his sources wonder if contact rate was a little bit overemphasized.
Despite his power production in Japan, it was another number -- combined with questions about his defensive ability -- that scared off potential suitors: his strikeout total. Murakami struck out 977 times in 892 career NPB games, including 180 times during a subpar 2024 season. His strikeout rate was more than 28% in each of his final three seasons in Japan and his 72.6% in-zone contact rate would have been the second worst in MLB in 2025.
"It was a bad miss by everyone," one American League official said. "In-zone miss scares people, and it was hard to project that versus improved pitching. It's one of the blind spots of hitting projection models, so it winds up hurting the confidence for every team."
There are enough differences between Murakami and Montgomery to inconvenience tidy comparisons, most notably the fact that the latter is a switch-hitter, but whether it's Murakami's first live batting practices in spring training or watching Montgomery's build and tools in the context of a light-hitting Birmingham lineup, there's an element of "just look at him" that encourages the suspension of doubt until the real results start rolling in.
Another commonality between the two unwavering work ethics. Combine that with the obvious physical talents, and the result may not be perfect players, but ones with programming that develops patches against exploits quicker than anticipated and trap pitchers until they try elsewhere, as Arizona reliever Ryan Thompson told Rogers.
"All we know is the way he's hitting here is different from the way he was hitting in Japan," Thompson told ESPN not long after giving up that 451-foot blast to Murakami. "His holes are not his holes anymore. Maybe why other teams weren't pursuing him is because he had different holes when he was with Japan. He's changed his approach."
Spare Parts
Speaking of adapting, a White Sox fan has been pope for a full year, and it seems like everybody has more or less gotten used to that fact.
I'm lucky if I get to more than one White Sox home game a year, so I don't have a great handle on what songs players are using for their walkup or entrance music. Andrew Benintendi's choice of "Living in America" concerns me:
“Rocky IV, it’s my favorite one,” said Benintendi of the movie featuring this song. “You have the scenes in the movie with Apollo Creed coming out with his hat on.
“Every time I hear that song, I’m kind of like getting in the zone. It’s fun. I always liked that song.”
He does know what happened to Apollo Creed after that, right? Right?
After winning two of three against the White Sox to briefly diminish the effectiveness of this column, the Angels lost their next two games, so they once again have the worst record in baseball. Sam Blum's depiction of Perry Minasian makes you appreciate Rick Hahn's ability to manipulate an unflattering question into a simpler one to answer without an insulting amount of buffering.
Minasian hasn’t talked to reporters much at all this season, even with a first-year manager in Kurt Suzuki on a one-year deal at the helm. When he does talk, on Sunday and in scrums past, he repeatedly responds to basic questions with indignation or unnecessary requests for clarification.
“What do you mean,” he asked when posed a question about what Yusei Kikuchi’s serious shoulder injury means for the rotation.
“As far as?” He asked, when questioned on whether the key to fixing the bullpen rests with internal options or external acquisitions.
In one instance, he was asked if Jordan Romano’s awkward April 25 mound exchange with Suzuki played a role in his release by the club. The Angels are on the hook for Romano’s $2 million guaranteed even after his DFA.
“Exchange?” Minasian asked, suggesting he had no idea about Romano and Suzuki’s back-and-forth.
“You’re saying like a negative exchange?” Minasian asked after a follow-up question that provided more details.
The Guardians have happily employed Austin Hedges for six of the last seven seasons despite the fact that he's a .172/.235/.276 hitter for them. They appear to be doubling down on "catchers only have to catch" with Bailey, who comes to Cleveland via a rare early-May trade hitting .146/.213/.183.
A good summary of the Twins, Guardians and AL Central as a whole: Minnesota beat Cleveland 2-1 in 11 innings. Both teams totaled just two hits apiece, and Byron Buxton had both of them for the Twins, including the decisive double off Peyton Pallette in the 11th.
Pallette is still hanging in there as an effective-enough Rule 5 pick, but he's walked nine batters over his last seven innings.
Bradford William Davis published a follow-up to his original investigation into Major League Baseball's investigation of the abuse accusations levied against Mike Clevinger, talking to three alleged witnesses who say the league never interviewed him.
At the time MLB implemented the restriction on shifts, analysts didn't expect there to be a real surge of singles, and that has turned out to be the case, because even with limitations on where infielders can stand, defenses remain more effective than ever. Still, the aesthetics of the game have improved for those who enjoy symmetry, at least -- and I'd start by banning positioning cards before implementing any further on-field changes like marked zones.
