Munetaka Murakami on Sun, Oct 11, 2026

Murakami fans four times as Cleveland's heat overpowers him in the ALDS

Murakami went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts and no walks at Cleveland in the Division Series. Put simply, he never got on base, and the data points to one cause: he was beaten by velocity. Cleveland's pitchers averaged 97.4 mph on their four-seam fastballs, and he was late on them for most of the night.

The pitch mix tells the story. Of the 18 pitches he saw, 13 were four-seamers, or 72 percent. Those fastballs went for strikes 69 percent of the time and produced five swinging strikes, which accounts for the bulk of his whiffs. The sweeper appeared four times at 88.2 mph with one swing and miss, and the splitter showed up only once. So this was less about being fooled by a varied mix and more about being overpowered by one pitch at the top of the zone. That is a meaningful distinction, because it points to timing rather than pitch recognition.

The platoon splits give some context. This season Murakami hits .218 with an .866 OPS and 28 home runs in 321 at-bats against right-handers, compared with .180 and a .725 OPS with seven homers in 133 at-bats against lefties. His edge against right-handers is real, but it did not show up tonight. Over his last 10 games, the last multi-hit effort came on October 4, when he went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs. Since then he has gone 1-for-15 across four games. The regular-season line of .207 with an .825 OPS and 35 home runs still describes a hitter who can do damage when he connects, even if the batting average is modest.

Unico's take: if he can sort out his timing against the fastball, the power should come back, so watch how he handles the first-pitch heater in the next game.