Chicago White Sox: Brent Morel's Stunning September Power Offers Hope at Third

The Chicago White Sox didn't expect much in the way of offense from rookie third baseman Brent Morel in 2011. Not surprisingly, Morel's bat has been soft-spoken all season.

Until September, that is.

The last month of games has seen a prodigious increase in power from the plate for Morel, who has been Chicago's primary starter at the hot corner. After struggling mightily at the dish for five months, the 24-year-old Morel has suddenly found some extra giddy-up in his swing.

Through the end of August, Morel had played in 99 games and posted the following offensive statistics: a .250 batting average, two homers, 22 RBI. He also had a .271 on-base percentage, to go with a .317 slugging percentage and a .588 OPS.

In just 19 September games, he has hit .279, homered seven times and driven in 17 runs. His on-base and slugging percentages in that time are .405 and .689 for a 1.084 OPS.

Some may point to pure luck for the power surge. However, the most telling stat this month has been in balls Morel isn't swinging at.

Through Wednesday night's 8-4 White Sox victory that saw Morel drive in three runs with a double and a home run, he has walked 13 times this month. Morel had drawn just seven free passes in the five previous months.

A more selective approach is cause for optimism in Morel's case. It's hard to envision Morel ever being a prototypical RBI machine at third base. Given a chance to start 150 games or more over a full season (the most he could get into this season would be 126), Morel could certainly put up a 15-homer, 60-RBI campaign.

Morel's ineptitude at the plate has been a sore spot for a lot of fans who have some leftover venom from lamenting the seasons of Adam Dunn, Alex Rios and Gordon Beckham. If you'd told me that Morel would equal Beckham's home run output and be batting 20 points higher, I would have scoffed.

If you'd told me that he'd also be right behind Dunn and Rios in balls leaving the yard, I would have laughed.

Morel's numbers won't approach acceptable levels for most big-league third sackers. That said, the strong way he is finishing his rookie season should afford him the chance to improve on his offensive production next spring.