Uncle Charlie to throw one more curve in Braves finale

"You can split Morton's career into two parts, though. Brought up originally by the Braves during the heyday of the sinker, Morton was the next greatest thing along those lines. He didn't pitch long in the majors for Atlanta, eventually traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for *sighs heavily* Nate McLouth in an ill-advised that cleared the way for Andrew McCutchen and the few years the Pirates were actually good."

"Largely abandoning the sinker and focusing more on his four-seamer, Morton went from groundball specialist to a strikeout king. The Astros would sign him after a very brief stint in Philadelphia, and he revived his career. He peaked in Tampa Bay in 2019 with a 6 win season. He came to Atlanta in 2021. Morton was good over 4 seasons in Atlanta from 2021-2024. He remained very effective into his mid-30s, although his later seasons caused some frustration here and there."

"Atlanta let him hit free-agency last offseason, and he signed with Baltimore before getting traded to Detroit. He hasn't been very good, which is how he ended up here for a batter finale."

Charlie Morton compiled roughly 31 wins in his 18th MLB season and will retire with about a 147-134 record and a 4.13 ERA. His career strikeout rate approached nine per nine innings, his walk rate sat near 3.5, and he generated groundballs on about half of batted balls. Early career usage emphasized a sinker and groundball pitching with Atlanta and Pittsburgh. A mid-career shift to a four-seamer raised his strikeout rate and revived his effectiveness with stops in Philadelphia, Houston, Tampa Bay and Atlanta. Late-career decline led to brief stints with Baltimore and Detroit.

Read at Battery Power