White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami injures hamstring, expected to miss 4-6 weeks in major blow to lineup

A very fun and surprisingly competitive Chicago White Sox season continued Friday night with a come-from-behind win over the Detroit Tigers at Rate Field (CWS 4, DET 3 in 10 innings). In his fifth MLB game, rookie Rikuu Nishida squeeze-bunted in the tying run in the ninth thanks to a throwing error from first baseman Spencer Torkelson. An inning later, Miguel Vargas hit a walk-off homer.

>"First in my career, in my life," Vargas said about the walk-off homer (via MLB.com). "... I tried to drive in the runner and put the team in position to where we can win the game. I got lucky. I got the right pitch and put a good swing on it, and we got good results."

>It was not all good news for Chicago, however. Star slugger Munetaka Murakami exited the game with what the White Sox called right hamstring tightness after running hard to beat out a double play ball in the third inning. On Saturday, manager Will Venable announced Murakami has a Grade 2 hamstring strain and will miss 4-6 weeks. He has been placed on the 10-day injured list.

>"Looks like a little hamstring strain on the initial evaluation," Venable said after Friday's game (via MLB.com). "He'll get some imaging tomorrow, but probably a couple weeks. Nothing official, got to continue the evaluation, but it might be a couple weeks."

>Murakami went 0 for 2 in Friday's game and is hitting a stout .240/.378/.560 with an AL-leading 20 home runs this season. Only Kyle Schwarber (22) has gone deep more times. Murakami has 20 homers in 246 plate appearances and the rest of Chicago's left-handed batters have 24 homers in 987 plate appearances. His injury will leave a big lefty power void in the lineup.

>The White Sox summoned infield prospect Jacob Gonzalez to replace Murakami, the team announced. Gonzalez, the No. 15 pick in the 2023 draft, is hitting .317/.419/.668 with 19 home runs in 52 Triple-A games this year. It is by far his best season. Gonzalez entered 2026 as a career .232/.310/.335 hitter with 17 home runs in 298 minor-league games.

>Baseball America ranked Gonzalez as the No. 23 prospect in Chicago's system in their May update, noting he "projects as a backup infielder with versatility to handle multiple spots." Murakami's production makes him close to irreplaceable, and the step down to Gonzalez could be enormous unless Gonzalez's Triple-A breakout is for real.

>Friday's win improved the White Sox to 30-27. It is the latest into the season they've had a winning record since being 81-80 on the second-to-last day in 2023. Chicago sits in the second AL wild card spot and has a three-game lead on a postseason berth. They're three games behind the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central.

>Vargas, Sam Antonacci, Chase Meidroth, and Colson Montgomery give the White Sox a strong offensive foundation both this year and long-term. There's no doubt, though, that losing Murakami for 4-6 weeks is a devastating blow to the team's postseason hopes. Few players are as important to their team as he is.

>Chicago signed Murakami, 26, to a two-year, $34 million contract in December. He hit .270/.394/.550 with 265 home runs in parts of eight seasons with the Yakult Swallows in Japan. That includes 56 homers in 2022, the record for a Japanese-born player.