Japanese phenom wants to play on the U.S West Coast and for the Yankees at the same time

Munetaka Murakami, the record-setting third baseman for the Yakult Swallows in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, recently expressed a desire to play for the New York Yankees, while supposedly being uninformed about the team's division.

Munetaka Murakami on going to MLB: “Ideally, I’d like to play for a west coast team. But I’m also interested in the New York Yankees.” - Yakyu Cosmopolitan

When the NPB infielder was asked which team he wanted to play for if given a chance, he took several names like the Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angles, and also the Yankees. He was seemingly oblivious about that last team's division.

He asked: "The Yankees aren't on the west coast?”

Someone said: “Very East” and everyone had a hearty laugh.

The Yankees are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team that play in the American League (AL) East Division. They are based in the New York City neighborhood of The Bronx.

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Murakami is one of the best hitters in the world and is not a member of an MLB team yet. In the most recent season, he broke Sadaharu Oh's long-standing single-season record for a Japanese-born player for home runs with 56 and a slash line of.318/.458/.711.

Murakami is widely recognized as a good defensive third baseman who records outstanding exit velocities.

Munetaka Murakami’s new deal is approx. $4.4 mn

Murakami has agreed to a three-year contract extension and, according to Kyodo News, will be made available to MLB teams following the 2025 season.

Munetaka Murakami. No. 56. – Jason Coskrey

The annual value of the new deal is around $4.4 million.

"I'm just grateful to have signed a deal like this," Murakami told the Kyodo News. "I'll need to work even harder ... I think I've produced results that deserve this. I'd be surprised if I got ($4.4 million) yen without doing anything, but I worked hard."

Murakami stated last month that the sooner he could play in the MLB, the better. It is pertinent to note, however, that his new deal has a three-year term.

Murakami won't be included in MLB's international bonus pools until he turns 25 and is posted. Given the way things are at the moment, he will be able to sign any kind of contract. Murakami might be a $300 million player given the amount of cash spent this summer.

Murakami is among the most-paid athletes in Japan because of his $4.4 million pay. Masahiro Tanaka, a former Yankees ace, earned an estimated $8 million in salary during the 2017 season, making him the highest-paid player in the NPB.