Slugging corner infielder Munetaka Murakami will be posted Friday by Nippon Professional Baseball's Tokyo Yakult Swallows for all 30 MLB teams, sources told Jeff Passan of ESPN.
Murakami's 45-day negotiating window starts Saturday, according to Passan.
The 25-year-old needs to agree to a deal with an MLB club before 5 p.m. ET on Dec. 22, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post. He has to be posted instead of going through free agency because he's played fewer than nine years in NPB.
Murakami logged 892 games during his time in Japan and hit 246 home runs with a .951 OPS, including 56 long balls in 2022 - a single-season record for a Japanese-born player. He became the youngest player in NPB history to win the league's Triple Crown that year when he accomplished the feat at age 22.
The star slugger also played a key role in helping Japan win the 2023 World Baseball Classic. He hit a walk-off double in the semifinals to beat Mexico before recording a homer in the championship game against the United States.
Murakami has already been linked to the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, and San Francisco Giants.
The Toronto Blue Jays have also tracked Murakami for years and are interested in his services, reports Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.
The team that signs Murakami will have to pay a transfer fee to his Japanese club based on a percentage of the total contract, which includes earned bonuses and options.
