Morse off to quick start
SEATTLE – Mike Morse, the Mariners’ .400-hitting rookie shortstop, was hardly this hot while playing for Triple-A Tacoma.
When the Mariners called him up on May 27, Morse was hitting .253 for the Rainiers. Entering Tuesday, he continued to turn heads with a .404 average.
“I’m just going out every day and trying to survive,” Morse said. “That’s my main goal, to survive.”
Actually, it’s more technical than that.
Morse has shown he can hit a fastball, the best evidence being last week when he turned a 99 mph pitch from Philadelphia’s Billy Wagner into a single to center field. So far he has handled pitchers who’ve adjusted their patterns against him.
When Oakland pitcher Dan Haren threw Morse a first-pitch breaking ball in his second at-bat Monday night, it was the first time this season manager Mike Hargrove could recall an opponent starting Morse with anything but a fastball.
“He made the adjustment well, and he ended up hitting the ball hard that at-bat,” Hargrove said.
Morse, who singled in that at-bat, also has been tested with inside fastballs. He’d been hit four times in 57 at-bats through Monday’s game.
“What I’ve noticed is if a pitcher makes you look foolish on a pitch, sometimes you’re going to see that pitch again,” Morse said. “You’ve got to make the adjustment and lay off it.”
Morse said the key to his early success has been recognizing what’s coming early in a pitcher’s delivery.
“I’m trying to see strikes as early as I can,” he said. “I’m trying to pick up the ball out of the pitcher’s hand a lot sooner than I ever did before.”
He credits Mariners hitting coach Don Baylor with instilling that approach.
“He has helped a lot with all kinds of little tidbits on how to survive up here,” Morse said. “The stuff he’s saying has helped me a lot.
“I feel good and I feel confident. It is early, though.”
Rave reviews for Soriano
Pitcher Rafael Soriano threw his second successful simulated game, and the reviews were raving.
“Everything he threw was good,” said catcher Pat Borders, who faced Soriano in his two-inning workout. “I wouldn’t want to face him in a real game.”
Soriano’s first real game since “Tommy John” elbow surgery last August could happen Friday when he’s expected to begin a minor league rehab assignment.
Pitching coach Bryan Price said the Mariners would decide today if Soriano will pitch for the short-season Class A Everett AquaSox or the higher-level Class A Inland Empire 66ers in San Bernardino, Calif.
“Everett seems to be a good fit because the whole front office, people from the scouting department and player development department can attend the game and see how he pitches,” Price said. “Inland Empire could be a good fit, too. We’re going to see where he is (today) and see that there’s no setbacks.”
Soriano, who threw 35 pitches, probably would pitch two innings in his first rehab game.
The Mariners will script his next three weeks in the minor leagues and, although Price was reluctant to say when he would be ready to join the Mariners, Hargrove gave a clue.
“I would say after the All-Star break is not being too conservative.”