HOUSTON -- Christopher Morel looked overmatched by the first three cutters that Astros lefty Framber Valdez fired his way in the fourth inning. Three violent swings resulted in two whiffs and one nicked pitch that kept the at-bat going.

Then, Valdez left one up and Morel made him pay.

“I have never seen balls hit like that -- honestly,” Cubs center fielder Cody Bellinger marveled.

In the fourth inning of Monday night’s 6-4 loss to Houston, Morel unloaded on a cutter that hung up in the zone, sending the ball caroming off one of the billboards that hang above the Crawford Boxes beyond left field. The thud of ball hitting sign was audible as the Minute Maid Park crowd was momentarily hushed.

Within the loss, Morel gave the latest example of the type of impact he can make on a game, while also showing areas in need of growth. He struck out four times and made a costly fielding blunder while making a cameo as Chicago’s left fielder.

There is a very succinct way to sum up Morel.

“You’ve got to take the good with the bad,” manager David Ross said.

Because the good is electric.

The 23-year-old Morel has appeared in six games since being promoted from Triple-A Iowa. He has launched four home runs, including two over the weekend in Minnesota that each set the Cubs’ season high for projected distance.

There was a 429-foot shot to Target Field’s second deck in right field on Friday, followed by a 461-foot blast to the third deck in left on Sunday.

Between his torrid performance for Iowa and his first handful of games back with the Cubs, Morel is slashing .333/.413/.752 with 15 homers, 10 doubles, two triples, 40 RBIs, 37 runs scored in 35 games. That has included a 31.9% strikeout rate between the two levels, but the damage done between whiffs has more than made up for that deficiency.

And those eye-popping numbers are why the Cubs are looking for ways to keep Morel in the lineup as a player who can bounce between multiple infield and outfield positions.

“What he's doing right now, it's hard to take him out of the lineup,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said pregame on Monday. “He's hitting balls 430 the other way and making good plays at second base. And I think he's going to move around a lot, which is great.

“That's the thing we talked about with [Kris] Bryant all the time -- the value of having a guy that has power that can also move all around the field. It's incredibly valuable. And he does a good job.”

Not only that.

“And I do think he has infectious enthusiasm,” Hoyer added. “And I think that really helps. It's a long season and having guys like that around really makes a big difference.”

Morel has helped out in the infield while second baseman Nico Hoerner – eligible to be activated off the injured list on Friday – works back from a hamstring issue. Morel moved to center field late Monday after Bellinger exited with a left knee issue.

Morel was in the lineup in left to help create a kind of half-day off for Gold Glover Ian Happ, who served as the designated hitter. Morel can help at third, play short in a pinch and be slotted in as a DH.

“Guys need days off. There will be good matchups,” Hoyer said.

In the first inning, as starter Jameson Taillon ran into some hard luck early that led to a two-out situation with runners on second and third, José Abreu belted a pitch to left. Morel turned and sprinted to his left, but the quirky dimensions led to the outfielder turning again, backpedaling and making a last-second leap as the baseball dropped in for a two-run double.

“It’s got some unique dimensions. Intimidating big walls,” Bellinger said of the ballpark. “It wasn’t a lack of effort. He was out there in BP, getting all the reads and bouncing all the balls off the fences. It wasn’t a lack of effort. It was just weird placement.”

Those two runs proved important, as the Cubs’ bullpen faltered late.

“In practice,” Morel said, “I tried to learn this -- where the ball is going, how the ball goes and jumps. This is my first time here. I’ll try to be better next time.”