The day after Jered Weaver no-hits the Blue Jays Twins, Brandon Morrow spins a three-hit shutout against the Angels as Toronto wins the Thursday night game 5-0. Morrow presents a nice case in why teams should stick with a pitcher if his three-true outcomes are good, even though his ERA is high. Since joining the Jays in 2010, Morrow owns the highest strikeout rate in the majors, minimum 300 innings pitched. His walk rate is a little high, but not outrageous, and his home run rate is good. His ERA, however, is high for his stats. In 2010, his fielding independent pitching (FIP) ERA was 3.16, well below his 4.49 mark that season. In 2011, his ERA rose to 4.72, and his FIP was up a bit to 3.64. This season, however, things reversed. His K rate is down, his home run rate is up, and his FIP stands at 4.33. After the shutout, however, his ERA comes in at 2.38.
Morrow did improve in one area, walks. He cut his rate in half compared to the two previous seasons. That helped lead to five of the seven home runs he allowed going for solo shots.
The difference really comes down to situational hitting, or luck if you will. In the two previous seasons, Brandon allowed a .242 BA with a .390 slugging percentage overall, but .291/.477 with runners in scoring position. This season, Morrow’s overall numbers come in at .204/.415, but .083/.083 with RISP. The Blue Jays received two seasons of bad rolls of the dice. In 2012, Morrow is rolling sevens.
Nice timing for a three-hitter given your post yesterday showing him and Weaver going deep into games without giving up hits.
Weaver didn’t no-hit the jays, he no-hit the Twins. Morrow seems to be getting back to what made him successful in 2010 – blowing away the competition. It seemed early this season when he was trying to ‘pitch’ rather than just ‘throw’ he was outthinking himself and hitters were capitalizing.
Weaver no-hit the Twins, not the Jays
Weaver no-hit the Twins, not the Blue Jays.
{nitpick}Weaver’s no-no was against the Twins, not the Jays.{/nitpick}
Joe » Thanks, fixed.
CJW » Fixed. thanks.
Sam » Fixed, thanks.
James » Fixed, thanks.
I disagree James. Last night’s start was Morrow’s new approach working to perfection.
Check out this quote from Pujols from Gregor Chisholm’s writeup on the official website:
“He’s a competitive athlete,” Angels first baseman Albert Pujols said of Morrow. “He made good pitches, kept the ball down and didn’t make too many mistakes. He was taking off some of his fastball. He wasn’t just throwing 95 like he usually does. He was mixing his pitches pretty well and keeping us off-balance.”
He used just over 100 pitches to throw this complete game. 2010 Morrow threw hard, but threw way too often.
Matthew, you’re right. Just saw the highlights from last nights game (I actually missed it, was playing in my own beer league) and I stand corrected, he ‘pitched’ well last night. Hope he can keep it up.
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