Michael completed his sixth professional season, first with the Cubs organization...Was named to the Baseball Digest's 2024 MLB Rookie All-Star Team...Since making his Major League debut with the Dodgers in 2023, has appeared in 179 games, batting .238 (135-for-568) with 31 doubles, two triples, 23 home runs, 72 RBI and a .745 OPS...Owns a career .283 average (389-for-1,375) with 91 doubles, five triples, 79 home runs, 267 RBI and a .919 OPS in 357 Minor League games...Was named the N.L. Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 9-15, 2024 after batting .478 (11-for-23) with two doubles, four homers, 11 RBI and a 1.567 OPS in six games...Was acquired from the Dodgers with right-handed pitcher Yency Almonte for left-handed pitcher Jackson Ferris and outfielder Zyhir Hope on Jan. 11, 2024...Enters the 2024 season ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 51 overall prospect in baseball and the Cubs' No. 4 prospect...Was named the 2023 Pacific Coast League Most Valuable Player after batting .323 (126-for-390) with 26 doubles, four triples, 27 home runs and 90 RBI in 98 games with Oklahoma City...Was named an MiLB.com Organizational All-Star in three straight seasons (2021-23)…Set career marks in 2022 in runs (118), hits (151), extra-base hits (70) doubles (38), home runs (32), total bases (285) and walks (74)…Finished in the top 10 in each one of the previous categories in Minor League Baseball...Participated in the Sirius-XM All-Star Futures Game in 2021...Was named a Texas League Post-Season All-Star in 2021...Was drafted in the first round (31st overall) by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019...Attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill for three years...During his sophomore campaign, led the Tar Heels in home runs (13), RBI (63), slugging percentage (.521), on-base percentage (.465) and walks (55) en route to being named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason watch list...Is a 2016 graduate of Simley High School (Minn.)...Michael in high school earned all-state honors in baseball but also played three years of varsity football and ice hockey...Captained all three teams and led the football team to a state final as a quarterback...Michael is one of eight children to parents Mike and Judy Busch...He has five sisters and two brothers (Luke, Logan, Claire, Amber, Carrie, Annie and Jamie)…One of his brothers, Logan, played baseball at North Dakota State.
2024
In 2024, Michael completed his first full Major League season, batting .248 (123-for-496) with 28 doubles, two triples, 21 home runs, 65 RBI and a .775 OPS in 152 games with Chicago...Among qualified Major League rookies, finished second in OBP (.335) and walks (63), third in OPS, tied for third in homers, fourth in slugging (.440) and sixth in RBI...His 21 home runs were the most by a rookie first baseman in franchise history, surpassing Anthony Rizzo's 15 in 2012...He joined Patrick Wisdom (2021), Ian Happ (2017) and Kris Bryant (2015) as the lone Cubs rookies in the last 10 seasons (since 2015) to hit 20-plus home runs...Was tied for fifth among Major League first basemen in defensive runs saved (five)...Batted .280 (74-for-264) with 13 home runs, 40 RBI and an .855 OPS on the road, compared to .211 (49-for-232) with eight home runs, 25 RBI and a .683 OPS at Wrigley Field...Hit his first home run as a Cub on April 5 vs. the Dodgers at Wrigley Field...Tied a Cubs franchise record by homering in five-straight games from April 10-15...Joined Hack Wilson (July 3-71, 1928), Ryne Sandberg (Aug. 7-11, 1989), Sammy Sosa (June 3-8, 1998) and Christopher Morel (May 17-23, 2023) as the lone Cubs to accomplish the feat since 1901...Became the first Major League player to homer in five straight games since Trea Turner (Aug. 28-Sept. 2, 2023)…From April 3-15, led the Major Leagues in home runs (six), OPS (1.368) and SLG (.923) and was tied for fifth in RBI (12)…Recorded his first career walk-off home run and RBI on May 7 vs. San Diego...Tallied a season-high-tying eight-game hitting streak twice (June 11-19 and July 2-11)…Batted .412 (14-for-34) from June 7-20, the highest batting average among qualified N.L. players during the stretch...Homered in back-to-back games July 7-9, including a four-hit effort July 9 in Baltimore...Reached base safely in 29 straight starts from June 5-July 11, posting a .343 average (36-for-105) and a .425 OBP...The .425 OBP during the stretch ranked seventh in the Majors...Hit his 16th home run of the season on Aug. 7 vs. Minnesota, surpassing Anthony Rizzo (15 in 2012) for the most by a Cubs rookie first baseman in franchise history...On Sept. 9 vs. the Dodgers, recorded his second four-hit game of the season with a home run and three RBI...Recorded his first career multi-homer game on Sept. 15 in Colorado...His second homer that day measured 468 feet, the longest homer by a Cub this season...Was named the N.L. Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 9-15 after batting .478 (11-for-23) with two doubles, four homers, 11 RBI and a 1.567 OPS in six games...Became the first Cubs position player to win the award since Seiya Suzuki (April 11-17, 2022).
2023
Michael won the 2023 Pacific Coast League Most Valuable Player award, after batting .323 (126-for-390) with 26 doubles, four triples, 27 home runs and 90 RBI in 98 games with Triple-A Oklahoma City...Became the first Oklahoma City player since Nelson Cruz (2008) to win a Minor League MVP award...Also received the Dodgers' Branch Rickey Minor League Player of the Year award and was named by Baseball America as the Dodgers' Minor League Player of the Year...Was named a finalist for Minor League Baseball's hitting prospect of the year and was named to the All-MiLB Prospect First Team...During his time with Oklahoma City, led the PCL among qualifying players in slugging percentage (.618) and OPS (1.049)...Also ranked second in average (.323), third in on-base percentage (.431), fourth in homers (27) and fifth in RBI (90), extra-base hits (57) and total bases (241)...Batted .337 (89-for-264) with 25 of his 27 home runs vs. right-handed pitching with Oklahoma City...During the month of April, batted .321 (25-for-97) with eight doubles, two home runs and 15 RBI...Was recalled by the Dodgers April 25 and made his Major League debut that night vs. Pittsburgh, tallying his first career hit, an RBI single off Johan Oviedo...Recorded three multi-homer games with Oklahoma City, including July 23 vs. El Paso, during which he tied a season-high in RBI (four)...Had three stints in Los Angeles spanning 27 games, batting .167 (12-for-72) with three doubles, two home runs and seven RBI.
2022
Combined with Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City to make an impressive season slashing .274/.365/.516 with an OPS of .881 in 142 games...During his time with Double-A Tulsa, led the team with the best average of .306 (33-for-108), OPS (1.112) and slash line (.306.445/.667)…finished with 31 runs, 33 hits, six doubles and 11 home runs before being promoted to Triple-A on May 17...The hitting machine made his presence known upon promotion, tied with Miguel Vargas for the most doubles on the team (32)…produced a slash line of .266/.343/.480 and totaled 87 runs, 118 hits, 32 doubles, 21 homers and 79 RBI...Solidified career highs in multiple categories during the 2022 season: 151 hits, 118 runs, 108 RBI, 38 doubles, 32 home runs and four stolen bases...With Oklahoma City, became one of 20 players to hit 30 or more home runs in the Minors. Was in the middle of a 12-game hitting streak from May 8-20 upon promotion to Triple-A…had 12-game streak from June 7-21 with Triple-A Oklahoma City as well…had 12 games where he had 3+ hits in one game (40 multi-hit games overall)… recorded a career best of five hits in one game on Aug. 14…#42 among MLB’s Top 100 Prospects and comes in at fourth on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ top 30 list…places second of top 10 second basemen/outfielders for 2022… Was an offensive threat in the seventh inning, batting a .385 (3-for-13) average.
2021
Had a stellar season with Double-A Tulsa, appearing in 107 games and averaging .267 (109-for-409) with a .386 on-base percentage and .484 slugging percentage... Solidified career highs in multiple categories during the 2021 season: 84 runs, 27 doubles, one triple, 20 home runs, and 67 RBI... Named as a Futures Game Selection with the Tulsa Drillers and named a MiLB.com Organization All-Star…was also awarded Double-A Central League Offensive Player of the Week during the week of Sept. 5, 2021... Slugged his first professional home run on May 5 against Amarillo…went on to hit 20 home runs during the season... Played 11 games (10 starts) at first base and 88 games (87 starts) at second base, committing just eight errors in 383 total chances Had a ten-game hit streak from Sept. 3-14 to wrap up the season, going 19-for-40 with three home runs and 12 RBI…recorded 27 multi-hit games with his only multi-home run outing on Sept. 4 vs. Springfield…homered in 19 of 107 contests…stole two bases (May 25 at Arkansas and July 6 at Springfield)…recorded six RBI against Springfield on Sept. 4, knocking in three runs via two home runs and a double for ten total bases…was solid in home and away contests, slashing .268/.394/.482 and .265/.376/.486 respectively… liked to hit right-handed pitching, notching a .288 average (90-for-313) with 52 RBI…hit an astounding .571 (8-for-14) when batting in the second inning…was even-keeled against starting pitching (.258/.367/.452 slashline) and pitchers in relief (.277/.407/.521).
2020
Spent the season at the alternate site on the USC campus.
2019
Joined the AZL Dodgers Lasorda on July 13th over the five games with the team and had 13 at-bats with one hit and one run scored...played with the Great Lake Loons for five games, batting .182 with four runs and two RBI...Was drafted in the first round (31st overall) in the First-Year Player Draft out of the University of North Carolina.
