Charlie Morton: the Roy Clone

[cs3]

Charlie Morton is quietly becoming a pretty good pitcher.
In fact he is strikingly similar to Roy Halladay - from his build and posture, to his pitch repertoire and throwing mechanics.
And its no coincidence. Its been fairly well documented that Morton has studied Doc extensively and has completely revamped his entire game to model himself after Halladay. Most importantly he has developed a very good cutter.

The results have been surprisingly impressive considering that he is still a work in progress:
62% groundball rate
55 IP - only 46 hits allowed
3.75 FIP
2.62 ERA
just 2 HR allowed


the K rate is not great, and his walks are up a touch (much better past 2 starts), but i expect both to improve as his comfort level with the new pitches and especially his delivery increases. the most amazing thing is that he hasnt had any success vs left handed batters yet, but hes been so utterly dominant vs righties that he hasnt been hurt by it. As soon as he learns to use the cutter more often inside on lefties, and starts getting them out at even a slightly more respectable rate, i thikn he will be really good.

He is completely off the radar right now, but I expect him to become fantasy relevant at some point this season...maybe sooner than later in deeper leagues, especially if the pirates decide to trade him to a contending team.
Keep an eye on him:

great discussion on him here:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.ph ... on-splits/





if these images were shaded out i bet you could not tell which pitcher was which:


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Halladay vid: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=14845143
Morton vid: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=14932349

[kimchi_chigae]

At first I thought you were saying Morton = Halladay. I'm glad you are only talking about his mechanics and not numbers. I was ready to send out a trade offer for Morton.

Crazy splits though. I was not aware of that. Problem for us is that Morton will probably be a better real life pitcher than a fantasy pitcher. He doesn't K at a great rate, even against right handed batters. Walks are still high and that ERA should be higher.

I don't mind the argument that Morton made ajustments and got better. He was pretty mediocre before this season. He has been average this year, so there were improvements, but I think he's nowhere near being a great fantasy option.

[cs3]

ya definitely NOT saying Morton is at the same level of Halladay.
just pointing out that he has made a complete overhaul in regards to his mechanics and has purposefully copied Hallladay's delivery + pitch selection. The similarities are striking and the results are steadily improving

[Inukchuk]

ya definitely NOT saying Morton is at the same level of Halladay.
just pointing out that he has made a complete overhaul in regards to his mechanics and has purposefully copied Hallladay's delivery + pitch selection. The similarities are striking and the results are steadily improving

Very cool. I guess if you're going to reinvent yourself as a pitcher, remaking yourself in Roy's image is a good idea (and easier than trying to be like Timmy). It definitely lends a bit of credence to Morton's improvement.

Nice post!

[AquaMan2342]

Great post......he's done a solid job of copying his mechanics.

[RedHopeful]

Considering how new this motion is for him, it's conceivable the K-rate improves as his command gets under more control. I've read that his sinking fastball is better than Halladay's so he's not w/o hope.

[cs3]

Considering how new this motion is for him, it's conceivable the K-rate improves as his command gets under more control.

this is my thinking as well. i think settling in some where near 6.5 K/9 is totally within reach.
i also expect his WHIP to drop (improve) to at least the 1.25 level as he becomes more comfortable and continues to work his way through the mechanical changes