With over 40 games remaining in the MLB season, 2026 is shaping up to be one of the best years for Japanese-born hitters — and it’s being led by a pair of rookies.
USA TODAY analyzed home run data for Japanese-born players to uncover the single seasons with the most homers hit by such players.
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Munetaka Murakami of the Chicago White Sox has hit 26 home runs in his first MLB season so far. That is tied for the ninth-best home run season by a Japanese-born player.
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Fellow rookie Kazuma Okamoto of Toronto is two home runs back with 24. Both players have hit more homers than any other Japanese-born rookie, eclipsing the 22-homer season Shohei Ohtani had in 2018.
It’s also worth noting that Ohtani is at 26 homers, too, although he is well past being a rookie in his ninth MLB season.
Murakami is on pace to hit 40 home runs if he maintains his current pace and plays in all 45 of the White Sox’s remaining games. A 40-home run year would rank as the fifth-highest single-season total by a Japanese-born MLB player, behind four Ohtani seasons.
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Okamoto, meanwhile, is on pace for 33, which would be near Ohtani’s 34-homer season in 2022.
Ohtani is between Murakami and Okamoto with a projected home run total of 36.
Should Murakami, Okamoto and Ohtani all hit 30-plus home runs, it’ll be the first season that three Japanese-born players have hit 30 or more home runs in a single MLB season.
Ohtani and Seiya Suzuki became the first pair to do so in the same season in 2025. Suzuki has 19 homers for the Chicago Cubs this season and is projected to finish with 27.
Aside from Ohtani and Suzuki, only one other Japanese player has hit more than 30 homers in a single season: Hideki Matsui, who hit 31 for the New York Yankees in 2004.
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Methodology: Home run data from Stathead and Baseball-Reference. Ages are calculated as of June 30 for the given season. 2026 totals are through August 10. Projections use each player’s current home-run rate per game and assume he appears in every remaining team game.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Murakami, Ohtani, Okamoto could make Japanese MLB home run history
