CLEVELAND -- White Sox slugging first baseman Munetaka Murakami officially will go on a Minor League rehab assignment before he returns to the White Sox, manager Will Venable shared prior to Thursday’s series opener against the Guardians.
Murakami has been out of action since May 29, when he suffered a Grade 2 right hamstring strain while beating out a double play grounder in a home victory over the Tigers. The date of this injury rehab or the exact timeline for a comeback has yet to be decided.
“Yeah, he’s going to go for a couple of days,” said Venable of Murakami. “You know, there is still no timeline, but we have talked about [it] and he was out there running today. The last thing before you go on a rehab assignment is running the bases two days in a row and making sure you are running at high intensity.
“But also on that second day be able to recover and do it again. He’s moving a lot closer to that. He was out there running curves today, which is an important step to get closer to running full speed on the bases.”
Running the curves in the outfield is different from running the bases, as Venable explained.
“He’s not yet running the bases, but that will happen before the rehab assignment,” Venable said. “We are getting closer to that is all I can tell you without a firm timeline when that is going to happen.”
Triple-A Charlotte is home next week if Murakami's assignment was to take place during that time. The Minor League side is off during the same time as MLB’s All-Star break, aside from the Complex League team in Glendale, Arizona. The Knights are in Durham for the first three days after the time off, from July 17-19, when the White Sox begin a six-game road trip to Toronto and Texas.
There has been no letup from the White Sox in the absence of Murakami, who has 20 home runs, 43 runs scored, 41 RBIs and a .938 OPS. He is a big reason why the White Sox sit atop the American League Central, but the team’s 15-13 record without Murakami shows the belief and energy coming from the team even without its top offensive force.
“I’m really proud of the group,” Venable said. “And I think it just speaks to how this group has stayed consistent, it’s that they don’t really overreact to any one thing. It could be a tough loss from the day before, or a great win from the day before, or losing a key player or whatever it might be.
“They are really consistent. They flush whatever happened in the past and are excited to come to the ballpark and give every ounce of energy they have.”