What's Wrong with Charlie Morton?

After his first nine outings of the season, Charlie Morton has shown more regression than any other pitcher on the Pirates staff. At one point during last season, I heard Morton being compared to a young Roy Halladay. I am not making that up. This season he has done nothing but disappoint Bucco Nation. So what has happened to Charlie Morton during his up-and-down seasons with the Bucs?

In my opinion there is two major factors to Morton's regression. First and foremost, his sinker has just lost the great movement it once showed during last season. If you watched the ballgame last night, Root sports broke it down and showed the movement of Morton's sinker last year and compared it to this season. Not even close. Last season his sinker would start in the dead middle of the plate and break all the way out of the strikezone, causing hitters to ground out a ridiculous amount of times. 

This season, his sinker is almost like a 2-seam fastball with very little break. Hitters are getting on top of it and driving this pitch to every part of the ballpark ( Or out of the ballpark) . His groundball to flyball ration has dropped significantly since last season, and he has been unable to use to ground ball double play to get himself out of jams.

Secondly, Morton has been unable to strike hitters out at a very alarming number. Through 9 starts this season he has only recorded 25 strikeouts. That is less than 3 per outing. He has been locating pitches on 0-2 and 1-2 counts almost directly down the middle.

This can be contributed to the fact his sinker just isn't breaking anymore, but Morton continues to throw it and is allowing hitters to reach base when they are down in the count too often. He has only recorded 5 strikeouts total in his last 4 starts and has allowed more hits than innings pitched in 7 out of his 9 starts this season, which is not the recipe for quality pitching. Not to mention opposing hitters are batting .301 against Morton this season.

Look, I am not saying Morton can be an ace for the Pirates, but last season he showed he can be a very reliable starter. So what is the next move for the Pirates? It's a little tricky in my opinion. Ray Searage has the ability to help Morton get through this tough time, but how many more bad starts are they willing to give Morton?

With Brad Lincoln pitching out of his mind and Jeff Karstens close to returning, Morton could find himself one of the odd guys out of the rotation. He has the potential to be a Pirates starter for years to come, but Morton must find his old self very quickly if he wants to stay in the rotation.

Written by Rick Bauer