How has the strikeout master Brandon Morrow redefined
himself following a frustrating season of inconsistency?
He looked objectively
at his innings from 2011, and made a commitment to become a more complete pitcher.
Morrow had been hearing for years that he’d find more success by trying
to get quicker at-bats, get more ground balls so he could pitch deeper into
games but it wasn’t until this winter that it finally sunk in. Given the
fact that Morrow only had one double-play turned behind him in 179 innings of
work last year, his off-season work has already proved fruitful with more than
6 DPs in 41 innings of work. This is a huge part of the evolution of Brandon
Morrow – using his pitches to allow his defence to get some outs. Pitching to
contact and allowing the dynamite defence behind him to get the outs is the
most important aspect of his improvement.
When the Seattle Mariners dealt Morrow to the Blue Jays two
and a half years ago there was no question of his potential. The Mariners were
frustrated with his volatility and gross inconsistency; there were games where
Seattle thought Brandon was their closer, frontline ace, and a wasted first
round draft pick. While there should never have been any question of the stuff
that Morrow throws, his inability to make hitters chase off-speed pitches and
his frequent high pitch counts did not let Morrow see many games after the 6th
inning. It is imperative that ace-type pitchers enter every game with the
intent to finish all 9 innings. You can see this mentality when you watched Roy
Halladay on the mound, and now Ricky Romero – Brandon Morrow version 2.0 has
the ability to finish out games.
Throwing gas is something that Brandon Morrow has always had
in spades. The ability to reach back and put a little extra into his 2-seam
fastball is a tool that Brandon will always possess; the trouble has been too
many walks. Morrow has found himself in many full count situations, while
trying to throw through the batter. Morrow’s career walks per 9 innings is just
north of 4.0; and so far this year his BB/9 is a sparkling 1.7. This is another
major reason for Morrow lasting 6.8 innings per start over his first 7 games of
the 2012 season. Any pitcher that does not inherently pitch to contact will struggle
having to throw from the stretch constantly due to issuing the free pass. The
success of Morrow will rely heavily upon his ability to keep
There will be games this season where Morrow fails to pitch
like he did on May 4th in Anaheim, and those games may occur when his
strikeouts rack up. This is completely acceptable. As we should understand, an
evolution is a process, a transition. There is no switch or option box to check
for Morrow. He will have to improve, grow, and mature into the new and improved
pitcher that he is becoming. The evolution of Brandon Morrow will be something
that Blue Jays fans and all baseball fans will get to admire for the next
couple seasons.
Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts below. Follow me on Twitter @ntopolie13
I'm always open to discussion or debate! Blue Jays fans unite!
No comments:
Post a Comment