There was one problem with Christopher Morel’s home run streak.

“Morel is an amazing player,” outfielder Seiya Suzuki said through interpreter Toy Matsushita.  “There’s a lot of reasons why he’s able to do that, and stat-wise, he’s performing really well.

“But, when I hit a home run, I don’t want people to know that it’s always going to be there for me. I want some people to praise me a little bit.”

Suzuki flashed a smile. 

Since Morel has been up in the majors this year, home runs have felt inevitable. On Tuesday, he extended his home run streak to five games, the longest by a Cub since Sammy Sosa in 1998, a year before Morel was born. He recorded at least a hit and a run in each of his first 12 games this season, tying Hank Sauer’s 1954 franchise record to start a season. 

The Cubs recalled Morel a little over two weeks ago, in the midst of an offensive rough patch. Entering Wednesday, Morel was leading the Cubs in batting average (.367), slugging percentage (.980), weighted runs created plus (265) and, of course, home runs (nine) since his introduction to the lineup. 

“I feel like we’re watching Barry Bonds or something,” reliever Julian Merryweather said. “It’s insane. A week ago I thought he was doing something historical already. Every night, it’s another record he’s going to be chasing.” 

Said second baseman Nico Hoerner: “Every time he steps in the box there’s a real threat, and that’s an incredible skill set.”

Said shortstop Dansby Swanson: “It’s crazy. I feel like when he hits a ball, it’s a homer. I wish I knew what that felt like.”

As Morel’s teammates marvel at his performance, he’s a tougher critic. 

“Everybody only sees the home run, is super happy with this,” Morel said Tuesday night, adding that he wants to put the ball in play more and strike out less. “... In two days in Houston, I got [seven] strikeouts. What happens if I put the ball in play? We can be better, I can help my team, we can get a W.”

He’s right that strikeouts are the inefficiency in his offense – a trade-off the Cubs are happy to make right now. But Morel has his sights set on consistency. 

Last year, during Morel’s franchise-record 22-game on-base streak to start his career, he struck out in just 21.4% of his plate appearances. But as the season went on, and opposing teams gathered more information on Morel, his strikeout rate rose to 34.3% and on base percentage dropped to .269 in the second half. 

Entering Wednesday, Morel was striking out at a 36.5% clip. But even as Morel nitpicks his start to the season because of that number, his offense has obviously provided a boost.

Cubs pitching coach Dustin Kelly said he expects Morel’s plate discipline to improve as he develops and learns how pitchers are attacking him.

“He moves faster than anybody that we have, so it’s really hard for him to shut it down,” Kelly said of Morel’s swing-and-miss. “He just has to learn that when that ball is in that zone, it’s, ‘Go.’ And then he’ll start to figure out how to put on the brakes a little bit better. 

“You’re gonna see some of those swings, but we’re also going to see some that end up 450 feet away that did change the game.” 

Right now, Morel’s seeing the latter in most games. It has practically become commonplace.