That’s 99 on the hands to Seager, shattering his bat with an unhittable fastball, follows by three just knockout curveballs to Bellinger that said good morning, good afternoon, and good night. There were some great pitchers in this series; on just raw stuff, though, no one could really match Morton’s overpowering fastball/curveball combination. More at link on Morton... https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/charlie-morton-was-baseball-in-2017/
I still can't wrap my head around how sick his stuff became this year. Can't send enough kudos to Luhnow and his nerd squad. If the rest of the league had any clue he was capable of this he would have scoffed at 2/14.
Morton and Verlander man. It is crazy to think that health barring, Morton would be considered one of the best pitchers in baseball right now. I think he may be on Cy Young alert next year. 95-99mph with sink, with that off-speed. Stros may have baseball's best rotation next year. Absolutely insane.
I said this last night as he was mowing down Dodgers: given his fragility, as well as the Astros' bullpen fragility, I really hope they give long thought to turning Morton into the next Andrew Miller. What a weapon he'd be out of the pen.
But I'm not sure if that sort of use really prevents injury. Starters have a better ability to tailor their routine... which is vital to preventing an overuse injury. Miller went to the pen because he was an ineffective starter.... Morton, even though he struggled 3rd time through, had a very good year when he took the ball. As we saw this year, teams need more starting pitchers than they think... and eventually, its a great problem to have come playoff time, as you can never have too many starter converted to bullpen guys.
Someone please tell me what he said to Hinch that warranted him batting in the top of the 9th watching 3 straight strikes. "give me the F**king ball"
I can see him possibly being our best starter next year. With the confidence he gained and his stuff peaking, I can see him having a Cy Young type season in 2018.
He's a poor man's Justin Verlander, that pitched like the real Justin Verlander when it mattered most.
Charlie Morton won't be in Cy Young contention because he won't throw 200 innings. He'll probably spend time on the DL like he always does, but as long as he is healthy in October (and November apparently), I'll take it.
I agree with this. Managing a starter's arm appears easier than a high leverage reliever's arm as workload is more consistent. Most likely Astros try to manage his workload by monitoring the stress on his arm. I expect Astros have someone like Peacock next year that can help out the starters 3-5 while Verlander and Keuchel eat innings.
I'll be the jaded jerk. I still expect steroids to be involved in Morton's resurgence. Players don't just add 5 mph to their fastball 10 yrs into their career. He seems like a nice guy but baseball has me jaded.
He didn't have to say anything to Hinch. It was already the plan based on the quality of his work the previous three innings.
Steroids won't help you throw harder. They will help your arm last longer, and recover quicker, but simply getting stronger won't increase velocity. Despite virtually every other physical capability consistently getting better in sports, the top velocity of pitchers is pretty much a fixed thing. If we could train our way to faster fastballs, it would have happened by now.
I'm not sure what surprises me the most...that his stuff was so electric this year or that he pitched so much this year. I was not expecting that he would be healthy at end of the year much less be able to carry a good postseason workload.
Fastballs are getting faster. Training with heavy and light balls are helping add a tick or two here and there. Chapman has been clocked at 105 mph. Morton is on the extreme side of adding velocity. From what he's said, he pitched the way he pitched until he was in the majors. He didn't have to adjust. He worked a lot harder on figuring out how to improve once he had a couple of off years and injuries.
Charlie Morton set the All-Time Record in Game 7 wins in a single postseason. In addition, it can't be broken under the current format.
