You might be hard-pressed to find a more unusual headline this baseball season, but then again, the White Sox prove us wrong time and time again.
MLB.com’s Scott Merkin shared a viral story on Monday detailing a unique request from Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami. After signing his two-year deal in December, Murakami suggested that the team install a bidet in the clubhouse bathroom after noticing one was absent during his walkthrough of Rate Field.
“One thing that stood out, one thing he did notice is I think we didn’t have a bidet in our locker room,” general manager Chris Getz told Merkin and MLB.com. “That’s something that’s new to him, and we are putting one in. So, it was like, ‘Ok, that’s new. We can do that.’”
Newly signed pitcher Anthony Kay from the KBO was certainly excited to hear the update. “Massive news,” he shared in a post on X. Sean Burke also followed suit with a simple reply, “Huge.”
The organization’s High-A affiliate also had some fun with the news, sharing on Tuesday that they, too, are installing bidets at their facility.
“The White Sox will be clean from top to bottom as the High-A affiliate, as the Winston-Salem Dash, we strive to do what is best for our players on and off the field,” said President and General Manager Brian DeAngelis. “Therefore, we have installed bidets in the home clubhouse.”
All jokes aside, this update shows the White Sox’s willingness to go beyond the bare minimum to help Murakami ease into life stateside. The organization isn’t typically known for signing and retaining elite international talent, especially from areas like Japan, so gestures like this can only benefit their long-term relationship with Murakami and any other potential signees.
“You look at what the Los Angeles Dodgers have done. They have the unicorn in [Shohei] Ohtani. They also have [Yoshinobu] Yamamoto and [Roki] Sasaki,” White Sox executive VP Brooks Boyer told Merkin. “Those Dodger games are distributed significantly back to Japan, which makes that a very attractive product to the Japanese sponsorship market.”
“When you talk about Murakami, being a Triple Crown winner in Japan, being a hero in the last [World Baseball Classic], being young, there’s a lot of interest in Japan for our games that will go back there. That opens some unique opportunities.”
“The Cubs have taken advantage of this with [Shota] Imanaga and [Seiya] Suzuki, and we are just kind of following the Dodgers playbook. How to best extend our brand to the Japanese market, which obviously draws interest from Japanese-based sponsors.”
The White Sox are very much looking forward to the on-field production from Murakami, while making sure he stays comfortable off the field.
To check out Merkin’s full article on MLB.com, click here. It’s well worth the read for the insight into how the organization is going the extra mile to transition Murakami into his first Major League season.
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Featured Photo: Matt Marton-Imagn Images
