Dylan Hernandez is already connecting Dodgers to Japanese slugger taking MLB by storm

Munetaka Murakami is telling everyone who doubted him upon his move to MLB to shove it.

Through his first 13 games, the White Sox's new premier slugger has four homers and seven RBI. His batting average is below the Mendoza line (.195), but his .834 OPS (143 OPS+) makes up for it. No one expected Murakami to hit for average; they expected him to hit dingers.

It was kind of a smart move for him to take a short-term deal with a low-performing team, and bet on himself again in just a few years time. He'll be a free agent after the 2027 season.

The Dodgers didn't appear involved in Murakami's market at all, despite Yoshinobu Yamamoto being seen out and about with him in the offseason.

It makes sense. Murakami was never going to be a major league third baseman, and the Dodgers have Freddie Freeman at first base and Shohei Ohtani at DH. There was simply no room.

But Dylan Hernandez of the California Post listed Murakami as his "future Dodger of the week." Freeman, too, is a free agent after the 2027 season. Despite his desire to play until he's 40, specifically for LA, the Dodgers may be more inclined to add another Japanese star.

Dylan Hernandez is already circling Munetaka Murakami as a future Dodgers star after hot start to rookie season

Before we get ahead of ourselves, the Dodgers will almost certainly want to see at least a little bit more contact out of Murakami before they think about wooing him, especially if Freeman is still good enough (and healthy enough) to plausibly play two more years for the Dodgers. But no one is calling Murakami a finished product just 11 games into his MLB career, and there would certainly still be some work to do even when he has a few seasons under his belt.

Of course, there's always the possibility that Murakami shares Tatsuya Imai's "beat them, don't join them" mentality, but we'd bet that he'll be more likely to keep his options open when the time comes.

The landscape of spending in baseball may look very different as soon as December of this year, but we trust the Dodgers to find creative ways of maximizing their roster within a system, even if they're faced with payroll limits for the first time in the game's history. Murakami could be at the top of their wishlist.