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Player of the Series: Christiopher Morel

When the Tampa Bay Rays acquired Christopher Morel at the 2024 trade deadline, the hope was for some immediate thump to be added to their lineup. After Morel homered in his first two games as a Ray, it seemed like they had made a good decision in trading Isaac Paredes to Chicago in order to obtain Morel. However, the power disappeared for Morel down the stretch and he hasn’t shown much in limited action in 2025.

However, on Saturday, we got to see a glimpse of the Christopher Morel that hit 42 HR and slugged .471 from 2022 through 2023 for the Cubs.

During his first trip up to the plate, Morel took an 0-1 fastball and clobbered it 438 feet to left field; it was the 6th longest homerun of his career and the longest since joining the Rays last July. Later on in the 4th, Morel laced a leadoff double and eventually scored on a Danny Jansen homerun. Then in the bottom of the 6th, with the Rays trailing 6-10, turned on another 0-1 fastball and hit a towering flyball to left field that carried out of the park for his 2nd homerun of the day. That would be it for Morel’s day as Josh Lowe would replace him for defensive purposes in the 8th inning.

With a double and two homeruns, Christopher Morel had three extra base hits for the first time in his big league career.

Although it was a loss and the only game that Morel appeared in during the three game series against Miami, his output was enormous and will hopefully serve as a sign of things to come for the 25-year old Morel.

Originally signed by Cubs during the 2015 international signing period, Morel eventually made his big league debut at the age of 23 in 2022 and served as a source of power for Chicago for two seasons, hitting .241/.311/.471 with 42 HR (116 wRC+) over 854 plate appearances.

However, his defense made playing time an issue and he slumped mightily in 2024 leading to the Cubs trading Morel to the Rays at the 2024 trade deadline. Down the stretch in 2024, Morel hit .191/.258/.289 for the Rays with 3 HR (59 wRC+) over 190 PA.

Thus far in 2025, Morel has received the majority of his playing time against LHP and in LF. Entering play on Tuesday, Morel is hitting .222/.300/.400 with 5 HR (102 wRC+) over 150 PA.

DRAYSBAY PLAYER OF THE SERIES