ST. LOUIS — When Cubs rookie Christopher Morel was a boy in the Dominican Republic, he often stood at the plate and imitated a superstar and countryman he deeply admired.
Feet spread extra-wide, rear end down low, hands and bat up high — that was how the great Albert Pujols did it.
Morel even imitated Pujols’ stance when playing “vitilla,” a baseball-like game played with the large, plastic cap of a gallon water jug in place of a ball and a broomstick in place of a bat.
“In the Dominican, I think Pujols is the one who sits at the top with the numbers that he’s put up,” Morel said through a translator Saturday before the Cubs lost 8-4 to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.