Footnote in Majors, Sensation in Japan

A Japanese Google search for “red-headed Murton” produces 16,100 hits. A year ago, there were far fewer.

But Murton, the 29-year-old from Georgia with the noticeable hair, has created even more news with his bat; he set Japan’s single-season hits record last year with 214 in 144 games with the Hanshin Tigers. The record had been held by Ichiro Suzuki, who had 210 hits in 130 games, and who, in a twist, now holds the single-season record for hits in the major leagues, with 262 in 2004.

Suzuki is a model of consistency in the majors, but what about Murton in Japan? So far, he is doing reasonably well, hitting a home run in his first at-bat (he had 17 homers last year) and compiling a .275 average through Friday’s games. He had 28 hits, 4 behind the leader in Japan’s Central League.

“Obviously, most of the guys profiling to come over here are guys that are going to hit a lot of home runs, but I don’t have to hit as many as maybe other gaijin,” Murton said in a recent interview, using the word for foreigners.

“They expected me to be the player that they thought I was capable of being in all the facets of the game: play good defense, run the bases, hit for average and hit some home runs along the way, too,” Murton said. “That was a different style of player than they probably tried to go get in the past.”

The Boston Red Sox selected Murton in the first round of the 2003 draft. A year later, he was part of the four-team, eight-player trade that sent him and Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs and brought Orlando Cabrera and Dave Roberts to the Red Sox. In ways big and small, the trade helped propel Boston to a World Series championship just months later.

Murton instantly became the sort of footnote to the trade that made for great baseball trivia questions, especially in Red Sox-happy New England.

He played 51 games for the Cubs in 2005 and batted .321. In 2006, he hit .297 in 144 games and drove in 62 runs with 13 homers. But he played less in 2007 and was traded to Oakland in the middle of 2008 and then to Colorado. In 2009, he split time between the Rockies and their Class AAA team in Colorado Springs, which was where Hanshin found him.

The sudden retirement of Hanshin’s leadoff hitter before the 2010 season led the Tigers to consider Murton for the top of the order. He became the rare foreigner to bat first in Japan and blossomed in the role.

In fact, among the Murton-themed merchandise Hanshin sells is a button bearing the Japanese expression so-ko-shu, meaning complete player. Each sound is represented by a character for speed, offense and defense. The button also has Murton’s cartoon image, complete with his red locks protruding from his cap and a smattering of red stubble on his cheeks and chin.

Across the top are those three characters plus a fourth, which represents study. Murton is depicted holding open a notebook, pencil in hand, with the caption: “All good kids should take notice of his habits.”

Indeed, Murton keeps a detailed notebook of pitchers and umpires, which he diligently updates. He said that to succeed, he needed to record what he was seeing.

“Last year was going to be my first year in Japan,” he said. “There was going to be a language barrier. A sinker to me might mean something different to them. Their terminology might be slightly different than how my brain processes it.

“I was like, if I can take my own notes and formulate my own game plan, then if there is a slight difference in terminology or definition, I’ll be able to formulate a better idea in my mind by writing it down myself.”

Murton’s note-taking allowed him to minimize the language barrier and begin his march to Japan’s hits record and a .349 average.

Murton’s love for swing repetition has also found a home in practice-happy Japan. “You can never say here in Japan, ‘I didn’t get enough,’?” Murton says. “If there’s more to be had, they’re going to give it to you. That aspect has been good for me. It allowed me throughout last year to grow as a player and to start to do some things maybe I hadn’t done in the past.”

Young Japanese players are notorious for taking extra batting work at the team hotel during spring training. They find space in the bowels of the hotel, on its roof or in a spare conference room.

Murton was asked if he ever wanders into one of those gatherings.

“No,” he said laughing. “I’ll stand in front of my own mirror sometimes or go out on the balcony and take some swings if I feel the need be. But those guys, it’s another level.”

In some ways, Murton is reminiscent of another foreigner famous in Japan more than 30 years ago. Charlie Manuel, a former outfielder in Japan who is now the Phillies’ manager, is still affectionately referred to as Aka Oni, or Red Devil, for the color his face would turn when he became angry during his career with the Kintetsu Buffaloes and Yakult Swallows from 1976 to 1981.

Manuel wowed Japan with his power, smacking 37 or more homers in four straight seasons. He outhomered Sadaharu Oh, the career home run leader, 166 to 152, during those four years.

Manuel found success in Japan after spending 13 seasons in the American major and minor leagues. He arrived when he was 32 and finished his career here.

Murton will turn 30 in October and will have to decide what to do when his contract runs out after the season. Does he stay where he has thrived or try the major leagues one more time? Meanwhile, he keeps piling up base hits.