For a player who was polarizing during MLB free agency, Munetaka Murakami looks like the real deal at the moment. While he isn't a risk to win a batting title anytime soon, that hasn’t prevented him from mashing 12 homers through his first 30 MLB games. Based on his current trends, many more are to come. To the surprise of exactly no one, Murakami's power surge has also had real impacts in the card-collecting market.
Murakami checks a lot of boxes with collectors and the hobby in general. He has name recognition in Japan, he was a high-profile name in free agency who is now playing in a big market, and his numbers are undeniably really, really loud.
That has made Murakami one of the most anticipated rookies for collectors in 2026 baseball products. We are starting to see his rookie autos with the release of 2026 Topps Chrome Black, and he is featured heavily in the upcoming flagship release, 2026 Bowman. However, enthusiastic collectors aren't waiting for his MLB cards to hit the market to splurge because his NPB card market is already very robust.
Munetaka Murakami's NPB card market hints his White Sox rookie cards are about to explode
Many US collectors may not be aware that there are Nippon Professional Baseball cards of those playing over in Japan. Most of the time, those fall into a niche card market populated by collectors who are active fans of NPB, and prices are generally pretty tame. However, once a player moves over to MLB and becomes a star, all bets are off. One need only look at Shohei Ohtani’s market, where there are recent examples of his NPB cards selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
This is not a phenomenon limited to Ohtani, whose empty candy bar wrappers would apparently command thousands. Roki Sasaki and Yoshinobu Yamamoto both saw the values of their NPB cards skyrocket once they moved over.
Predictably, Murakami's card market has similarly gone wild. If you just want a base refractor of his 2025 Topps Chrome NPB card, it will set you back three digits right now. If you just want his Saikou insert (one in 24 packs odds...basically just a one-per-box insert, nothing crazy) from 2022 Bowman NPB, be ready to pony up hundreds of dollars (or more if you are hunting a parallel). For a guy with 30 big league games under his belt, that is nuts.
However, that is the collecting world we live in, and you can bet the craze will only get bigger if Murakami keeps hitting dingers. Getting more licensed Murakami cards, especially with that coveted RC symbol, might make it easier to find his cards, but there is no guarantee whatsoever that Murakami's cards will be much cheaper, if at all, once the print runs increase stateside.
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