Literally the Best Cubs Slugger to Begin a Season Probably Ever

I do not care about Christopher Morel's strikeout rate because if the Chicago Cubs had more guys doing what he's done in two weeks, then maybe they wouldn't be six games below .500 and getting close to last place in the National League Central Division.

Morel was the designated hitter for the Cubs on Sunday and he hit a home run for the fourth game in a row. It was a solo home run to right field with two outs in the ninth inning. That was only one of three hits by the entire Cubs offense, the only extra-base hit and the lone run the Cubs scored in their 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. So I'll repeat, I do not give a shit about the strikeouts because at least Morel is hitting the shit out of the ball.

In 11 games, Morel is up to eight home runs, which already puts him second on the Cubs for most home runs so far in 2023. Patrick Wisdom has 12 home runs in 157 plate appearances. Morel has 48 plate appearances.

So yeah, Morel has been on an incredible tear since his first game on May 9, against the St. Louis Cardinals and after his home run on Sunday the 23-year-old became the first Cubs player to reach 8 home runs in his first 11 games of a season since 1901.

By the way, I have not seen any other player's name brought up for this stat, so I'm guessing there wasn't any other Cubs hitter that has ever done what Morel has accomplished even before 1901. Morel was also (most likely) the only player in Cubs history to hit 7 home runs in his first 10 games.

Oh and by the way, Morel has also recorded at least 1 hit and has scored at least 1 run all 11 games he's played in this season.

If you expand this out to every MLB team, only two players have more home runs in their first 11 games of a season, Luis Gonzalez with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001 and Mike Schmidt with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1976.

So far in the month of May, the Cubs have hit 21 home runs as a team. That ranks right in the middle of all MLB alongside the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels. So, Morel has accounted for nearly 40 percent of the Cubs home run total this month and that's even after not playing in the first eight games in May.

Overall, Morel has 11 extra-base hits, (8 HR, 3 Doubles) which are more than Trey Mancini, Yan Gomes, Eric Hosmer and Nick Madrigal, who all have had at least 98 plate appearances with the Cubs this season.

Meanwhile, Tucker Barnhart, Matt Mervis, Miles Mastrobuoni, Edwin Ríos, Luis Torrens, Mike Tauchman and Miguel Amaya have combined for 8 extra-base hits in 218 plate appearances.

But what is truly frustrating and really should piss off Cubs fans is that this team is wasting Morel's incredible run because in these 11 games the team only has a 3-8 record.