Minneapolis – In a season when there were so many questions surrounding the Minnesota Twins bullpen, rookie Andrew Morris has taken hold of one of the eight spots.
Andrew Morris has had his ups and downs throughout the season. However, since June 12, opponents haven’t scratched a run across him in 15 outings. Morris has pitched 17 innings during that stretch, allowing just three walks, six hits, and striking out 17 batters.
To top off an excellent end to the first half of his season, Morris pitched two scoreless innings against the Los Angeles Angels in Minnesota’s 4-2 win on Sunday while topping out at 100 MPH. Still, all the success Morris has had lately hasn’t come from trying anything new. Instead, it’s feeling comfortable in a solidified role out of the bullpen.
“It’s starting to feel normal for sure,” Morris said. “It’s building confidence along the way. I feel like every day I’m still learning something. Getting to learn from all these guys.”
“When I caught him in spring training picking up a spot start, did I expect him to be throwing 100 out of our bullpen? Absolutely not,” said Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers. “But it’s really cool to see. He’s an absolute bulldog.”
For a rookie whom the Twins didn’t call up until three weeks into the season, Morris has done everything he could to earn his spot on the active roster and has remained there ever since. He’s fourth on the team in appearances this year with 35. He will quickly surpass Eric Orze (36), who the Twins optioned to Triple-A on Saturday, and Anthony Banda (39), who is out for the season recovering from left lat strain surgery.
Morris is only five appearances behind Taylor Rodgers, who leads the team. He could lead Minnesota in relief appearances by the end of the season, something a Twins rookie hasn’t accomplished since 2005 when Jesse Crain made 75 appearances alongside Juan Rincon out of the Twins bullpen.
“Early in the season, I think it was a situation where he just didn’t have major league reps,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said of his rookie reliever. “The more reps he gets, the better we are. I give him a ton of credit.”
“When he’s on the mound — guys have started to grab ahold of identities, and he’s one of those guys that you want that guy on the mound,” said Jeffers, “That’s one of those guys.”
While Morris has mostly pitched only one inning in high leverage lately, he closed out the series against the Angels, pitching two innings in both outings. Morris had gone a month without throwing more than two innings, with his last long relief outing coming on June 4 against the Royals.
The Twins played a close game against the Angels on Friday night but lost 4-3. Instead of using closer Yoendrys Gómez for an inning, Shelton had Morris pitch an extra one that night. And with Gómez getting up to throw and sitting back down too frequently on Friday, Shelton had him sit out Saturday and Sunday’s victories over the Angels, asking Morris to close again.
“He threw two innings the other night, came back out, and was able to finish tonight,” said Shelton. “We were not going to use Gomez today. For [Morris] to be able to finish it, I thought, was really important.”
“I don’t think it’s ever easy to do it in the ninth,” Morris said. “Props to Gómey for doing that a lot and really good. It’s never easy, but it’s a lot of fun.”
The Twins are 48-49 going into the break, tied with the Seattle Mariners for the third American League Wild Card, so they are looking to bolster the bullpen behind Gómez and Morris. They took the first step by acquiring Tommy Nance from the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday. If they can go at least 9-7 in their 16 games before the trade deadline, they will be at least two games above .500 and in a solid position to buy.
If Andrew Morris keeps pitching as he has been since June 12 as the Twins open the second half in Chicago, then there’s a good chance they’ll find themselves in a position to do so.
