‘The pride is in the grind’: Once a disaster, Charlie Morton is now resurgent in vintage style
CNN
Amid the chaos of a tumultuous Baltimore Orioles season, a veteran hurler has (re)emerged as a bright spot on a team fighting through injury and roster uncertainty. All in a year that has reminded him all too much of what it means to be a major leaguer.
Amid the chaos of a tumultuous Baltimore Orioles season, a veteran hurler has (re)emerged as a bright spot on a team fighting through injury and roster uncertainty. All in a year that has reminded him all too much of what it means to be a major leaguer. After struggling to find his footing in the big leagues throughout the first nine years of his major league career, Charlie Morton successfully reinvented himself and by the late 2010s had become a go-to starter. In 2017, he helped propel the Houston Astros to a World Series championship and did the same in 2021 with the Atlanta Braves, the organization that drafted and developed him through its minor league system. But it seemed like age was finally catching up with the veteran pitcher. Morton signed a one-year, $15 million deal with the Orioles this past offseason as a starting pitcher who had established himself with 17 years of MLB experience and a nasty curveball. Throughout the first weeks of the season, it seemed like it might be one of the worst signings of the offseason. Morton got off to one of his worst starts in 10 seasons, with an abysmal earned run average through his first five starts. It forced the Orioles to make a tough decision: move Morton to the bullpen. By all accounts, Morton took the news like a pros pro. But what bothered him the most was the guilt.
