NEWSLETTER
It was another rough night at the plate for Christopher Morel, who is keenly aware of his issues:
I respect the attitude there – don’t blame others, take it on yourself – but both things can be true. Pitchers have definitely modified their approach to him from the start of his big league stint, responding and adjusting to things Morel was doing. He knows that. He knows he has to adjust.
As we discussed late last week, one obvious thing is that pitchers definitely have been pitching him inside the strike zone much less (in his first two weeks up, pitchers were in the strike zone 45.0% of the time against him; these last two weeks? just 39.7%). Last night was another great example: Morel saw 19 pitches, just 7 of which were in the strike zone (and just one of those was a fastball). And everything was down and away, down and away. Again, he knows this.
With a young batter who is on the more aggressive side, that has been the playbook since time immemorial: get him with the soft stuff low and away until he shows you he can lay off the ones outside the zone and can do a little damage on the ones inside the zone. And all the while, keep trying to get him to extend a little further and a little further. Mistakes will still happen, but big league pitchers just don’t make them at anything close to the rate of Triple-A pitchers.
So it’s up to Morel to demonstrate to pitchers that, more often than not, they’re not going to get him that way.
As for the whole thing about his numbers as a DH being much worse than when he plays in the field, Morel and hitting coach Dustin Kelly both suggested to Cubs.com that there’s actually something to it:
“I feel better when I’m playing outfield or a position than doing DH,” Morel said. “If I [do poorly] one at-bat, I think too much. … They see it, and I see it, too. In the game, I can concentrate at different points and not think too much about hitting.”
Kelly called the DH one of the most challenging jobs in baseball, especially for a young player like Morel.
“A lot of it,” Kelly said, “is that he plays with such high energy, and he burns so much energy out in the field running around, just playing like he plays. That time in the dugout, he doesn’t get to burn that energy.
“So we’re trying to keep him on his plan, on his approach, without overthinking it, without watching too much video, without going back and watching every single at-bat. Just staying in the game, and not necessarily isolating yourself as the DH.”
That’s not a surprise if you’ve watched Morel at all, and like Kelly said, this is not an issue that’s unique to Morel. It seems weird, but you have to learn how to handle sitting down for so long (physically and mentally speaking). It’s just you and your thoughts, and also the knowledge that your only job that day is to hit … but what if you fail? It can mess with a guy.
That said, until Morel improves defensively, it’s going to be challenging to give him a load of non-DH at bats. Adding first base to the possible toolbox could help, but ultimately, it’s just another thing that Morel will have to learn and improve upon. Consider it a reminder of all the things a young player has to work on when arriving in the big leagues, and why it can take multiple times for even clearly talented players to establish themselves and stick.
