Presence on AL team is icing on the cake for Morton
WASHINGTON — They were walking in stride Monday, two friends who have flourished on a new team that’s overtaking this year’s All-Star Game. As Gerrit Cole tells it, Charlie Morton hadn’t stopped smiling all day.
Aaron Nola crossed their path. The 25-year-old is ascending baseball’s hierarchy of starting pitchers, flourishing in Philadelphia’s quest for a division crown. He spotted Morton, a teammate for all of four games in 2016, extended his arms, and wrapped him in a hug. They spoke for 10 minutes.
Cole allowed himself to eavesdrop.
“Chuck threw 14 innings for the Phillies. He played one year,” Cole said. “And Aaron Nola, fantastic pitcher, All-Star, has mad respect, mad love for this guy. That’s the kind of impact Charlie makes wherever he goes.”
Soon they rode down to a narrow hallway to find placards bearing their names. Cole worked the room effortlessly, bouncing between piddling and pressing questions without losing a wide smile. He was away from the team on bereavement leave when Morton was added to the American League roster.
Morton called his former Pirates teammate. First, Morton checked in after the death of Cole’s grandmother. Then he delivered his good news.
“The way Charlie is, he’s always looking for the other shoe to drop,” Cole said. “I had a couple things in mind of maybe where he would go (in the conversation), always try to be the Charlie that he is. He didn’t do that, and he was thrilled. Which made me so happy, because he is so deserving.”
Morton sat two chairs away from Cole. Justin Verlander’s presence between them thinned crowds. Astros officials gave Morton a disposable camera, and he began to examine his surroundings. Alex Bregman yelled over. Morton, in mid-answer to a question, flashed a smile. Bregman clicked his camera.
The picture was completed, and Morton continued his answer.
He is reflective, more philosopher than ballplayer, often refusing to acknowledge the onfield success he creates. His career milestones, even this first All-Star Game, are met with little fanfare because, frankly, he doesn’t view them with customary esteem.
“I essentially did everything I wanted to do in the game early on,” Morton said. “Now it’s just icing on the cake. Every other inning, every strikeout, it’s all just a bonus.”
Change in plans
This was supposed to be an exploratory off weekfor a 34year-old journeyman who never thought a professional baseball career would manifest itself in the first place. Major league scouts attended a game during Morton’s junior year of high school, when he opposed a highly touted prospect from nearby New Milford, Conn.
If not for that pitcher and his status, Morton doubts the scouts would have noticed him. He debuted in 2008 and, by 2010, had an ERA nearing 10. A demotion to Class AAA, where “pretty much everything about pitching” was overhauled, followed. He underwent Tommy John surgery two years later, too.
“I remember being in Milwaukee in 2016,” he said, “and thinking ‘You need to start really looking at where you are and enjoy it, because it’s not going to last much longer.’ ”
A day later, Morton ran out a sacrifice bunt and tore his hamstring off the bone, abruptly ending his Phillies career.
“I felt like my body was healthy. I was really looking forward to 2016. I was with a group that I really enjoyed being with,” Morton said. “The guys over there, I really liked a lot.”
Shortly thereafter, he signed a two-year contract with the Astros, the analytically driven enterprise that transformed Morton’s philosophy. He operated for most of his career with an intention to get hitters out in three pitches or less.
Sinkers down and in to righthanded hitters were, by his estimation, his best pitch. He threw to induce contact and not elicit swings and misses, the antithesis of the Astros’ approach. They directed him to throw his curveball more, adhering to their swing-and-miss approach, along with an elevated fourseam fastball Morton fires with reckless abandon.
“Now if I get swings and misses, I feel like I’m doing the right thing,” Morton said. “And now if I get a ground ball, it’s almost like, ‘Aw, man, I didn’t do it right.’ Now I’m trying to throw hard.”
He and Cole sit tied for the third-fastest fastball velocity among qualified major league starting pitchers. Morton recorded the final out of the Astros’ first World Series championship. Now, he is a first-time All-Star, assured by Astros and AL manager A.J. Hinch that he will pitch in Tuesday's game.
Offseason decision looms
Morton and his growing family plan to settle in the Washington, D.C., area after his retirement. Before his addition to the American League team, a trip was planned to begin looking for houses. Free agency is looming, leading to an inevitable question. Morton said he’d like to return to Houston, “but it all has to work out.”
“I want to do the right thing for my family,” said Morton, who has three children and another due in September. “If that means I’m done after this year, if my wife is like, ‘You know …’ If we’re in a position at the end of the year to sign somewhere else, and it’s in a situation that we think is a good situation, I’ll probably keep playing. But I don’t have a goal.”
From one perspective, the ones he did have are already fulfilled.
“Charlie always talks to me about how he just wants to be a representative to kids, representative to guys who have faced adversity or faced challenges, to continue to push, no matter how bleak the outlook is because it can be done,” Cole said. “I’m just really proud of him to be able to achieve his dreams, not necessarily just being an All-Star but make a lasting impact on a lot of people.”