Chicago White Sox rookie Munetaka Murakami hit his 20th home run of the season on May 28 during a 15-2 victory against the Minnesota Twins at Rate Field.
The 26-year-old Japanese slugger achieved a historic Major League Baseball milestone for the most home runs by a rookie before June since 1901.
>>> Hurricanes Blank Canadiens 4-0 in Game 4 of Eastern Conference Finals
Murakami finished the game 2-for-4 with one home run, one RBI, three runs scored, a walk, and a stolen base.
His milestone blast came in the bottom of the seventh inning with one out.
He drove a 93.9 mph fastball from Minnesota reliever Travis Adam 432 feet over the left-center field wall.
This performance followed a game on Tuesday where Murakami hit his 19th home run, a two-run game-tying shot off Minnesota starter Joe Ryan in the eighth inning.
According to RotoWire, Murakami finished Tuesday's extra-inning loss 1-for-5 with an additional run scored, posting an exit velocity of 108.4 mph on the blast.
According to MLB stats expert Sarah Langs, Murakami's 20 home runs through his first 55 MLB games rank third all-time behind Cody Bellinger's 22 in 2017 and Wally Berger's 21 in 1930.
He also joins Frank Thomas and Jim Thome in White Sox franchise history for hitting 21 home runs before June.
The historic pace places Murakami second in the overall Major League Baseball home run race, trailing only Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber.
In the American League specifically, Murakami holds the solo lead over Houston Astros hitter Yordan Alvarez and New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge.
