Pleasant problem
PEORIA, Ariz. – Brandon Morrow is presenting a dilemma for the Mariners. A welcome one.
A 22-year-old right-hander not quite one year removed from pitching for the University of California, Morrow is drawing attention in Seattle’s spring training camp. His numbers this month – just two hits allowed in 6 1/3, scoreless innings, with two walks and eight strikeouts – are as impressive as his work ethic and preparation.
Suddenly, Seattle is unsure what to do with its fifth overall draft choice from last June.
A month ago, Morrow seemed destined to begin this season in Double-A, if that high. Now the Mariners are considering the hard-throwing starter for a spot in their bullpen – especially with hard-throwing closer J.J. Putz still resting a sore elbow that may sideline him through opening day.
Morrow said he’s prepared for the next stop – be it West Tennessee, Triple-A Tacoma or, gulp, Seattle.
“So far, no one has said anything,” Morrow said Monday, when he shut out Arizona in 1 1/3 more impressive innings. “No one wants to say I’m moving up somewhere and then if it doesn’t happen, there’s a letdown.”
Morrow, whom Seattle projects as a major league starter, is comfortable with bullpen duties. He better be if he wants to pitch in Seattle anytime soon. The Mariners have five established starters: Felix Hernandez, Jarrod Washburn, Miguel Batista, Jeff Weaver and Horacio Ramirez. All have looked sharp this month.
For now, Morrow, whose fastball can reach 98 mph, is concentrating on perfecting his spilt-fingered fastball. Monday, Arizona’s Jim Tracy, a .281 hitter last season with 20 home runs, struck out on a nasty splitter from Morrow that dove at Tracy’s spikes.
“He didn’t do anything to hurt his chances,” Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said after Morrow flummoxed the Diamondbacks, just as he has three other rivals this month.
The Mariners are bringing Morrow into games earlier, while opposing veterans are still in games, to increase the competition level.
“We had him in there against some of their top hitters, and like to see how the kid reacts,” Hargrove said Monday.
Each time Morrow pitches, Hargrove makes it sound more plausible that Morrow could be a Mariner less than 10 months after the team gave him a $2.4 million signing bonus. The contract was signed just 10 days after the Mariners drafted him, one of the quickest deals for a top pick in recent Seattle history.
After that, Morrow was assigned to Rookie League Peoria. But a sore shoulder and elbow limited him to just seven appearances for Peoria and one with Class A Inland Empire by summer’s end.
“That was misleading,” Morrow said. “My arm strength was not where it should have been, and people thought I was injured.
“I addressed that in the off-season, with a strict weight (lifting) program. I lift four to five times a week now, and feel much stronger. I think what happened last season had a kind of snowball effect.”
Morrow reported to the Mariners’ camp this spring as non-roster player, but his off-season conditioning helped restore his confidence. The native of Rohnert Park, Calif., has a simple explanation for his spring success.
“Throwing strikes, with location. Also, getting ahead of the hitters is critical,” Morrow said, sounding like a parrot of what Hargrove’s been preaching to his pitchers.
Seattle’s 560 walks last season were fourth most in the American League.
Morrow calls his splitter his “out pitch,” but said his changeup needs work. He said his curveball is sharp at this point, but he continues to concentrate on location with that, too.
Quiet and unassuming by nature – even as he sits at the clubhouse lunch table injecting insulin through a mechanical pump to control his Type I diabetes – Morrow steps lightly around the Mariners’ clubhouse.
“Just went about my business,” he said of his latest, quiet day.
Yet he’s been watching how veterans such as Washburn, Batista and Putz prepare. That has opened lines of communication that Morrow said has aided his learning.