NEWSLETTER
I knew that Chicago Cubs youngster Christopher Morel had a cannon, because it was one of the many “loud tools” you heard about as he was coming up through the system. Some rated it as the best position player arm in the system.
What I didn’t quite realize, even having watched his huge throws from the outfield, that they were TOP OF THE LEAGUE type throws. The nugget just dropped on the Marquee broadcast:
The literal two hardest throws all year by a position player came from Morel. Outfielders can get their momentum going so you tend to see these throws over 100 mph throughout the year – someone will probably touch 103 mph this season – and Morel is at the top of the class.
The broadcast showed the two throws, too, and it’s interesting. They certainly looked extremely fast, but it’s harder to tell what is 100+ mph from the outfield versus something that is only 95 mph. When Oneil Cruz threw that 96 mph beebee last night, I feel like it was a lot easier to tell that it was a super elite velocity throw, because you don’t really see throws like that from shortstop too often. Harder to see from the outfield.
That is all to say, it was pretty great to see that bit dropped on the broadcast tonight. Cheers to Morel!
