It's always good to have an outside perspective about your team because sometimes we're either too high or too low on the overall group and individual players. Cubs fans are hyped about Seiya Suzuki after his stupendous August and September in 2023, while the return of Cody Bellinger solidifies the middle of the lineup. Craig Counsell should be an improvement over David Ross in the dugout and the Cubs should have quality reinforcements ready to step in from their minor league system throughout the season.

However, I still think the true x-factor for the 2024 Cubs and hopefully for several more years, is Christopher Morel. So, of course I love this bold prediction from The Athletic's Eno Sarris.

The talented baseball writer released his 10 bold predictions for the 2024 MLB season and Sarris has Morel being an All-Star for the Cubs this year.

The reason behind Sarris' prediction? It's pretty simple. Christopher Morel hits the ball hard, does it at a high clip and that usually means good numbers at the plate.

Via The Athletic.

Robert Orr at Baseball Prospectus made a statistic that quantifies the fact that discipline is not only about laying off the bad pitches, it’s also swinging at the good ones. It’s named SEAGER because Corey Seager is the best at it, naturally. And Morel is a top-50 hitter in SEAGER, which might surprise people staring too big of a hole into his strikeout rate.

In 2023, Morel had a 15.5 barrel %, which ranked fourth-best among players 25-years-old or younger who had at least 400 plate appearances. That ranking from Morel was above Ronald Acuña Jr. and Luis Robert Jr.

As Cubs fans, we know that the big question mark is if Morel can be good enough defensively at third base to remain there for the majority of the time. But unlike last year, at least we know that the Cubs are actually going to be serious about letting Morel prove himself one way or the other, instead of quickly abandoning the experiment. Morel is going to play every day and if he continues to make positive strides at the plate, then an All-Star season may very well be in his future.

Morel finished the 2023 season with the following numbers: .247/.313/.508, 119 wRC+, 26 HR, 1.4 fWAR. The right-handed slugger accomplished that in 107 games, getting a total of 429 plate appearances after being called up in May. If Morel had been up since Opening Day in 2023, he could have been on pace to hit 40 home runs for the Cubs, something that hasn't happened on the north side of Chicago since 2005, when Derrek Lee hit 46 home runs.

Also, Morel really only had one awful stretch in 2023, which hurt his overall numbers.

Christopher Morel Month-by-Month in 2023
May: .296/.333/.718, 177 wRC+, 9 HR, 75 Plate Appearances
June: .257/.321/.514, 120 wRC+, 5 HR, 85 Plate Appearances
July: .291/.371/.419, 120 wRC+, 2 HR, 97 Plate Appearances
August: .149/.222/.324, 47 wRC+, 3 HR, 81 Plate Appearances
Sept./Oct.: .241/.308/.578, 133 wRC+, 7 HR, 91 Plate Appearances

We're finally going to get a full season of Christopher Morel and if he does reach All-Star level, then the Cubs are going to be great with him in the middle of the lineup in 2024.

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