Christopher Morel’s routine in between at-bats Wednesday night, before his three-run walk-off homer, had evolved since he first tried his hand at designated hitter.
It wasn’t natural at first. He had so much time in between at-bats to contemplate his last plate appearance, watch film on the tablets in the dugout, take swings in the batting cages.
“Wherever the team needs me, I’ve got to be there,” Morel said in a conversation with the Sun-Times this week. “So, I need to make this adjustment because the team needs me at DH.”
Morel has played all over the field for the Cubs the past couple years. But as the team has evolved into a playoff contender, those openings in the field have become few and far between. To keep Morel’s bat in the lineup, the Cubs needed him to DH.
“[Mike] Napoli helped me a lot at that point,” Morel said of the Cubs first base coach, “because he knows how the DH works, trying to be in the game and trying not to think too much.”
As Morel took on the DH role more regularly, manager David Ross and Napoli thought it would be a good idea for Napoli to pass on his own DH tips and tricks from his playing days.
Napoli played in the American League, which used to be the only league with the DH, for his whole career. He dabbled early on but became more of a regular at DH, when he wasn’t playing first base, in the last couple years of his career.
“You can go out your first at-bat and get out on the first pitch, and then you can wait three innings until your next at-bat,” Napoli said in a phone interview. “So it gets — not boring — but it’s just like, ‘What do I do now?’ Sometimes you just get caught up in being down there, taking too many swings, and thinking about your swing so much, and thinking about how you got out the at-bat before.”
Napoli’s advice was to spend less time in the cage and more in the dugout. Watch the opposing pitcher, see how he’s approaching other right-handed hitters. Talk to your teammates about their at-bats. Learn from their mistakes and their successes.
“He’s going to have his own routine,” Napoli said. “I told him that over time, you’re going to find what works for you. I was just giving him a baseline to where he can start something and try different things, and whatever works for him.”
Morel took Napoli’s suggestions and implemented them immediately.
In early June, Morel was hitting .156 in 32 at-bats as a DH. Now, he’s up to 128 at-bats, hitting .250 with an .823 OPS.
“He’s just evolving as a player,” Ross said. “It takes a minute.”
Entering Wednesday, Morel was in a bit of a slump. He’d recorded just three hits in his past 11 games.
“The hope is that he finds another hot streak here,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said before the Cubs’ 4-3 win Wednesday against the White Sox. “And we know he can carry us when finds one.”
A few hours later, Morel blasted a line drive over the right field fence for the first walk-off home run of his career.
Morel flew past Napoli at first base, tearing off his helmet in celebration. And Napoli headed toward home plate to join the mass of Cubs players jumping, shouting and waiting to greet Morel.
“He’s fun to be around,” Napoli said. “He loves the game. He loves to succeed in this game. And it was a really big moment for all of us. I mean, everyone went nuts.”
