Chicago Cubs infielder Christopher Morel has been wreaking havoc on Major League pitching this season, and while his home run against the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday was impressive in a lot of ways, it was downright historic.
Morel, who opened the season in Triple-A Iowa, hit his 17th home run in just his 65th game with the Cubs on Wednesday night, and as if that weren’t impressive enough, he hit the left field videoboard for good measure:
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Chicago sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Stunningly, one other thing about this home run puts the other statistics and metrics to shame.
According to Cubs data scientist Jeremy Frank, Morel is now the fourth player in Major League history to hit at least one home run while slotted into each of the nine spots in the lineup in a single season:
Morel’s teammate Ian Happ also pulled off the feat in his rookie season in 2017, and according to Baseball Reference’s Joe Zobel, Brian Goodwin and Steve Finley are the only other players to accomplish this incredible achievement.
In case you are curious, the best spots for Morel this season have been the first and third spots in the order. He’s hitting well over .300 in each spot, and has a combined eight home runs and 21 RBI’s in those positions.
Morel is now slashing .282/.342/.552 for the Cubs this season, and even though he is at a 1.4 WAR on the season, that is still above his production level from last season in 48 fewer games and in 158 fewer plate appearances.