is a Japanese professional baseball infielder for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Amateur career Munetaka started playing baseball at five years of age. He entered Kyushū Gakuin Integrated High School where he became their team's regular first baseman and clean-up hitter. They made it to the 2015 Koshien national tournaments in his first year, but got defeated in the first round. He then played catcher in his 2nd and 3rd year, but they did not make it to any national tournaments. He hit a total of 52 home runs in high school, and his slugging prowess earned him the nickname "Babe Ruth of Higo", Higo being the former name of Kumamoto Prefecture. Professional career Tokyo Yakult Swallows Despite not getting a lot of media exposure from appearances in national games, he was drafted in the first round of the 2017 NPB Draft by the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Yomiuri Giants and the Rakuten Golden Eagles, as an alternative pick after they lost Kōtarō Kiyomiya to the Nippon Ham Fighters. The Swallows won the lottery, and signed him for a contract of 80 million yen and a 7.2 million yen annual salary. He was assigned jersey number 55. 2018 He spent most of the season playing in Eastern League (minors) games. He batted at .311 in 28 games until the end of April, with 3 home runs and 20 RBI. In June, he got awarded League MVP of the month for batting 0.315 and driving in 14 runs, last accomplished by a Swallows rookie in 2011 by Tetsuto Yamada. He also got voted into the Fresh All Star games in July. He continued to play well in the following months, and finally got the chance to play in the main squad on the September 16 game against the Carps. He debuted as the starting 3rd baseman, and hit a home run on his first at-bat. But after failing to record a hit in his next 5 appearances, he was sent back to the farm and ended the season there. He finished with a batting average of 0.288, 17 home runs, 70 RBIs and 16 stolen bases in the minors. Post-season, he was awarded both the Eastern League MVP and Rookie of the Year awards, and was given a 800,000 yen pay rise, bringing his annual salary to 8 million yen. 2019 2019 was Murakami's break out season. On