Munetaka Murakami Joins the Circuit Competition

There you go. The picture is complete.

With just a few days to go before the home run derby, we now know who the eight power hitters will be competing for the title.

Following Junior Caminero, Ben Rice, Willson Contreras, Jordan Walker, Jac Caglianone, Bryce Harper, and Kyle Schwarber, Munetaka Murakami has now joined the group.

Here's how it looks.

Murakami recently missed more than a month due to an injury. But last night, he returned to action for the White Sox, paving the way for his selection to the famous home run derby.

It's also worth noting that he'll be in the All-Star Game. MLB has also announced that he'll be replacing Byron Buxton, who is injured and unable to participate.

In two months this season, Murakami has hit 20 home runs. He would be around 30 if he hadn't suffered an injury at the end of May.

Kyle Schwarber (32), Ben Rice (29), Junior Caminero (28), and Jordan Walker (22) currently have more home runs than the Japanese player.

Bryce Harper and Willson Contreras also have 20, while Jac Caglianone currently has 15 home runs.

It's worth noting that Juan Soto, who had expressed some interest in participating in the contest, will not be there. We can only assume he couldn't or didn't want to… because otherwise, he'd undoubtedly be there.

Who do you think will win the contest (which will air Monday night on RDS in Quebec)? After all, there are several strong contenders.

I wouldn't bet against Ben Rice, personally…

• Kazuma Okamoto's 22nd home run in a Blue Jays win. He tied the home run record (held by Shohei Ohtani) for a rookie from Japan… but Munetaka Murakami won't let him get away with it that easily.

• Shohei Ohtani has a sore knee, but not so much that he's useless at the plate.

• The Pirates trade the 34th overall pick.

• Carousel in Chicago.

• That's 30 this season for Yordan Alvarez. He also became the sixth player in history to hit 200 home runs for the Astros.

Created by humans, assisted by AI.