Morel didn't let this freak accident end his dreams

CHICAGO -- Christopher Morel remembers touching his hand to his face and feeling blood. He remembers all the shards of glass around him. He remembers the woman who quickly removed her hoodie, wrapping it around his left arm to help close one of his wounds.

"I remember everything," said Morel, sitting in the Cubs' dugout on a recent afternoon.

And those memories, those flashes from a day that threatened to end Morel's big league hopes and dreams, are what help define the player energizing the Cubs now and winning over fans. A freak accident as a rookie baller help him savor every moment that has followed.

The rookie came up from Double-A on May 17 and launched a home run in his first career at-bat, bounding around the bases to an adoring Wrigley Field crowd. He has piled up stolen bases and extra-base hits. He's bounced between second, short and center (sometimes in the same day). And Morel has reached base in each of his first 21 Major League games.

And the kid has not stopped smiling.

"It's kind of been like a second life for me," Morel said via Cubs team translator Will Nadal. "I see it as another opportunity that God gave me, just to be able to go out there and live my dream."

A few months after signing with the Cubs in 2015, Morel was on a bus ride from Santo Domingo to Santiago in his native Dominican Republic. There was a quick stop at a cafeteria, where he hopped out to grab some food for the rest of the journey.

Still inside, Morel saw the bus preparing to leave without him. The 16-year-old kid hustled outside, but the glass door to the building was jammed. In an instant, the door gave and shattered, inflicting damage to Morel's left arm, wrist and left eye.

"In this moment, I felt heavy. My face, heavy. My arms, heavy," Morel said. "I saw blood everywhere."

Morel was taken to a local hospital, where his parents were able to meet him after a couple hours. Thoughts about baseball would have to wait. For now, seeing his family was what mattered the most for Morel.

"It made me feel stronger at that moment," he said. "And that I wasn't alone."

There were doubts that Morel -- a wiry, strong, athletic kid with a heap of potential -- would be the same on a diamond. It took time for him to regain full strength in his left hand. When the time in his rehab eventually did take him back to a field, trying to backhand ground balls issued physical reminders of the wound to his left arm.

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"I didn't feel any fear when I got back," Morel said. "But I won't lie, I did feel certain things that I couldn't do as well as before that I had to work on."

Morel lost the entire 2016 season to his rehab process, but there was a benefit behind the scenes. He was sent to the Cubs' complex in Arizona, where he would routinely see Willson Contreras there early in the morning.

Contreras learned about Morel's injury and made a point to check in on the young prospect when they would cross paths at the complex. A native of Venezuela, Contreras knew the obstacles facing Morel as a first-timer in the United States. And he understood Morel's road forward would not be an easy one.

"He would give me a high-five," Morel said. "He would ask me how I was doing, what was going on, where I was in the process. That's where it started, how that bond formed."

In 2016, Morel saw Contreras rise to the Major Leagues and hit a homer on the first pitch he saw with the Cubs. During Morel's own MLB debut, he told Contreras he was going to hit a home run like the catcher did as a rookie. And then the kid did just that.

"Knowing Morel, where he's coming from, what he had to go through to get back on the field," Contreras said, "it's just amazing. I just told him, 'God is good and you're blessed to still play in baseball.' What happened to him wasn't easy, but he never gave up. And knowing him, he makes me proud."

Morel has a smiley-face emoji stitched into one of his gloves to help remind him to keep smiling, even when bad days strike. After hits, you can find him pounding his chest, pointing to the sky and looking to his dugout to fire up his teammates.

"What he brings to the table is amazing and well-needed," said Patrick Wisdom, who also remembers Morel helping energize the quiet alternate-training site during the 2020 season. "I think we can all enjoy a little bit of Chris Morel."

Since he has come to the big leagues, Morel has been spotted shaking hands with umpires and opposing catchers. He playfully pats the helmet of bat boys when they come to retrieve his gear. In Baltimore on Tuesday night, following a first-pitch homer run to lead off the game, Morel found a Cubs fan at the end of the dugout and they shared a high-five.

Morel is soaking in each day of this "second life" he has been gifted.

"He loves the game of baseball. He loves life. And he plays that way," Cubs manager David Ross said. "Some of his experiences, I'm sure, have brought that out. He has a high-faith base that is part of who he is. I think it's just Christopher Morel."