I Love You, Brandon Morrow

by ~ September 5th, 2008 at 9:16 pm

I was willing to postpone the start of my weekend to see your first Major League start, and you didn’t let me down.  That was probably the most excited I’ve been watching the Mariners all year. 

7.2 innings, 1 hit, 1 run, 8 k, 3 BB, 106 pitches

I don’t blame anyone for skipping a Mariners game on a Friday night this year, but you missed out on something special if you did.

UPDATE, Postgame: Additional insight courtesy of USSM:

106 pitches thrown, 72 strikes (17 of them swinging), 34 balls

62 fastballs, 16 changeups, 15 sliders, 12 curveballs, 1 splitter

Average fastball velocity: 95.7 MPH

Fastest pitch – 98.4 MPH fastball
Slowest pitch – 80.7 MPH curveball

Morrow only threw his fastball 58% of the time tonight, compared to 76% of the time when he was a reliever. That’s a huge change in approach, and one that he absolutely had to make. That he was able to sustain a fastball with an average of 96 MPH for 106 pitches is pretty remarkable, honestly – no other starter in baseball consistently rushes their fastball up to the plate at that speed. Not even Felix.

If he’s going to keep throwing 95 and mixing in offspeed stuff 40% of the time, he’s going to be terrific.

If you’re not excited, something is terribly wrong with you.

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  • drivindave

    wow! that was the most fun I think I’ve had watching an M’s game in awhile. What a complete plus to our team if Morrow could be somewhat near the Felix category in the future we actually could have a decent rotation come next year.

  • Brandon

    Dang…I was on an ecology field trip all weekend.
    Talk about a pleasant surprise to come back to. Those stats look really, really good.
    Hopefully the coaches realize having Felix, Bedard, Morrow, and RRS in the rotation next year is by far the best choice…even if we do have to eat one of our terrible pitchers salaries to do it.

  • Brian

    Morrow silenced any doubts I had about him being a starter. He looked as unhittable as a starter as he was as a reliever. The way his fastball starts inside then tails back over the plate against lefties in ridiculous.