One year ago today for the Cubs, Christopher Morel made his thunderous MLB debut

One year ago today on May 17th, 2022, utility man Christopher Morel made his historic debut for the Chicago Cubs where he launched a towering home run to the left field bleachers in his first MLB at-bat.

Although he wasn't in the starting lineup that day in a contest against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Morel was brought in to pinch hit in the eighth inning. One inning prior, Morel was talking with former Cubs catcher Willson Contreras and reminiscing about his MLB debut where he homered on the first pitch he ever saw. Morel insisted that he would also homer in his first at-bat, and he did just that later that night and sent the crowd at Wrigley Field into an absolute frenzy.

As a high-energy guy dripping with talent, Morel feeds off moments like that and uses them to build confidence in himself. With the Cubs lacking positional depth last season, Morel stuck around for the rest of the year despite skipping over the Triple-A minor league level.

The remainder of 2022 saw Morel go through high highs and low lows, with 16 home runs and 55 RBIs on the season. His second-half struggles prompted the Cubs to start the 23-year-old in Iowa in 2023, where he bashed his way back to Wrigley Field by leading the International League in several hitting categories in April.

Now Morel is starting to heat up at the big league level with 4 home runs already in the books. All four of them were convincing bombs measuring over 400 feet. As long as he keeps producing at the plate like that and driving in much-needed runs, Morel will find playing time most days of the week and should be in the lineup over Eric Hosmer and Nick Madrigal.

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