2006 REVIEW

 

Charlie Morton was consistently inconsistent, which is pretty much how you could also characterize his minor league career. He really struggled the first half of the season, but as he usually does he showed some promise more toward the end of the season. In his last eight games, Morton had a 3.31 ERA, with five runs on 11 hits allowed in 13.2 innings, only three walks, and 12 strikeouts. For the last three years he’s showed at the end of the season that he’s been able to figure things out, but he’s been unable to return the next season to show any consistency.

 

 

INTERVIEW WITH CHARLIE MORTON

 

Q: How have you been doing?
A: I’ve been working on a slider this season, and it finally started to work in this last outing. It helped me out there. I think this has been a pretty good experience. It seems that every other year I start out in a roller coaster, with ups and downs, and then towards the end of the season I start to figure it out. I’m getting to the point where I need figure it out a little earlier.

Q: You’ve been on a roller coaster through most of your career. Have you seen improvement in your mental approach this season?
A: Yeah I think I’ve learned to deal with the whole thing a little bit better than I have been. I try not to let it get to me as much. Sometimes it’s misconstrued as me not caring. I think I’m misunderstood. I think I pitch better when I relax. When I just go out there and try to get the job done I do better. I’m not trying to get fired up about it. I’m not trying to get pumped up about it, since that just doesn’t work for me. It just doesn’t work for me. I’m figuring things out like how to prepare myself mentally to pitch. A couple of outings ago I was down in the bullpen warming up to go into the game in relief and the guys were sitting up in the bullpen telling me to go in and try to throw the ball as hard as you can. I never tried it before. I went in there and just threw it. I was in there to just throw the ball – as simple as that. It worked, so I’ve been trying to do that. I was just throwing fastballs, and not trying to nit-pick and not trying to hit spots. And it’s a lot easier to make adjustments off a consistent effort. When you’re throwing at a certain intensity, like I’m throwing at 100%, it’s easier to make an adjustment off it, as opposed to if I’m out there trying to throw a 91 mph fastball and spot it somewhere. DC told me to go out there and not think about it and put the ball in the glove. I’m trying to figure it out.

Q: Do you have to get past this, trying to figure it out, before you can refine certain pitches?
A: The last time I pitched I threw pretty well. I went out there with a pitch I hadn’t really thrown all season with a different grip. The time before the last slider I threw I tried a new grip and it felt different. I put a lot of side-spin on it. I tried the new grip, and it worked for me. I don’t know really what I am right now as a pitcher. You see guys that have good stuff get hit all the time, and you see guys that don’t have good stuff just get the job done all the time. I have good stuff, but I’m not getting the job done. That’s been the case since I signed. So I went out there with this new pitch and it seemed to complete my repertoire of my pitches. I have this new out pitch. It seems like I’m still figuring it out. I’m not trying to refine anything yet.

 

Q: Along with that slider, are you still throwing the curve?
A: Yeah I’m still throwing the curveball. It’s always been one of my better pitches. I don’t know if throwing the slider is going to take away from the curveball. I don’t really know what stage of development I’m in. It seems like I’m at this point every year. I really don’t know.

 

 

MYRTLE BEACH PITCHING COACH BRUCE DAL CANTON

 

Charlie is a teaser. Sometimes he’ll go out there and be lights out, and then other times he’ll go out there and be hit around a bit. His whole thing is command. He’s got the pitches. He’ll show you three major league pitches. But his whole thing is his command. He gets behind in the count and has to come in with the fastball. If they can sit on his fastball, he’s going to get hit. If he can get his fastball and his breaking ball over, he can be very effective. And his changeup is not too bad either. He’s got three major league pitches. He’s been fooling with a slider for the last few months. He’s got a big curveball, but if he’s not getting that over, then he might have another breaking ball to use if that slider works out. He might have a little smaller breaking ball to get over if he needs it. The curveball is his out pitch. But if he uses his slider, he could get ahead of hitters. If he can get ahead, then show that curve and they almost have to swing. But if you just have the curve and he’s not getting it over, then the hitters just eliminate it and sit on that one pitch. He can be very effective if he gets those other pitches over. But he’s a teaser.

 

 

THE BRAVES SHOW’S BILL SHANKS

 

This is one of the most frustrating pitchers in the Braves’ farm system. The talent is there. No one disputes that Morton has talent. Anytime you can throw the ball in the low-mid 90s with a good curveball, you’ve got good stuff. But Morton seems to struggle with the mental side of the game. He’s got to harness his good talent and good appearances and carry that over more consistently. Consistency is often what separates minor league pitchers, and Morton has failed to show that so far. But again, with that stuff, the hope is that the light will come on and he’ll get that consistency.

Chances are Morton will return to Myrtle Beach next season, perhaps as a reliever. But the Braves would love for Morton to go to Spring Training and show that he’s ready to make that next step. This is a kid that is learning how to pitch, but it shows that there’s so much more to pitching than just have a good fastball and a pitch that moves. You’ve got to be mentally tough on the mound, and once Morton figures that out, he’s got a chance to move up and be a legit prospect.