03 March 2011

Morrow's transformation...

i must admit...it's been fascinating to see how Brendan Morrow managed to unleash his incredible gifts....and to think we were all wondering why we acquired him from Seattle? Here's part of the story according to Shi Davidi of the Canadian Press & MLB Insider at Sportsnet.ca:

"A simple five or six inch drop in Brandon Morrow’s arm angle early last season began the process of unlocking the electric right-hander’s potential. Transformed from a straight over the top “Iron Mike” to a “high three-quarter” hurler, Morrow was suddenly able to find the strike zone more consistently and locate his dominating repertoire.
FAST FACTS
  • Morrow posted 178 Ks in 2010
  • Struck out 39 batters in August (3-0, 2 ND)
  • Threw one-hitter on Aug. 8, with 17 Ks
RELATED
He later learned to pitch to contact by reducing his velocity, so that on days when his fastball doesn’t sit at 95-96 m.p.h., he can still thrive. But the door to Morrow’s evolution into the dominant power pitcher long envisioned for him first opened with that slight drop of 
his right arm."

I also think that a big component of what helped Morrow with his successes last year was having Jose Molina as his catcher.  This year, I hope he keeps up his dominating repertoire of pitches...remember the 17-strike game he had where the Jays defeated Tampa 1-0 on August 8, 2010? Yeah...THAT domination!

Overall, based on what I've seen from the tandem of Morrow and Molina, I believe they are a fantastic team. They read each other well..and they both manage to pick off want to be base stealers!

till next time,
-jLau





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