Brandon Morrow

Brandon John Morrow,

(born July 26, 1984 in Santa Rosa, California) is a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays. Morrow has four primary pitches, a fastball, split-finger fastball, changeup and a curveball combination. He can throw for a high velocity, often getting into the mid to high-90's with his fastball, but often struggles with his command.

He was the third player from the 2006 draft class to pitch in the Majors, the others being Andrew Miller with the Detroit Tigers and Joe Smith with the New York Mets. He became just the seventh player in Mariners' history to make his debut the year after he was drafted.

Amateur career

High school

Morrow attended Rancho Cotate High School in Rohnert Park, California. As a senior he was 9-2 with a 0.61 ERA and had 84 strikeouts in 63 innings. He earned first-team all-league, first-team All-Redwood Empire, first-team All-North Coast Section and second-team all-state honors. He competed for the California All-Stars at the 2002 Sunbelt Classic in McAlester, Oklahoma. He majored in American studies.

He was selected by the Anaheim Angels in the 40th round, 1200th overall, in the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft. However, he did not sign with the Angels and decided to attend college at UC Berkeley.

College

He appeared in 19 games with five starts in his Freshman year, going 1-3 with a 6.07 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 30 innings. He picked up the win in relief versus the University of California Los Angeles on April 25 going one inning, surrendering one hit, and striking out two. Morrow had three strikeouts in two innings against Brigham Young University on January 30.

As a Sophomore Morrow made ten appearances with five starts, going 0-1 with a 9.36 ERA and one save. He had 25 strikeouts in 25 innings. He earned his lone save on March 19 against the University of Hawaii at Hilo with three strikeouts in two innings. He threw a career-high five innings with a career-high six strikeouts against Loyola Marymount University on February 13.

Morrow was named first-team All-Pac-10 his Junior year, going 7-4 with a 2.05 ERA, second in Pac-10. He had 97 strikeouts, fourth in Pac-10. He held opponents to a .211 average good enough for third in Pac-10. Morrow was named National Pitcher of the Week after pitching seven innings, no hits, no runs, one walk and a career-high 12 strikeouts against University of California, Irvine.

He was a Cape Cod League All-Star in the 2006 summer for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, striking out 24 batters in 15 innings with a 1.84 ERA and three saves. He was named a third-team preseason All-American and the fifth-best professional prospect out of the Cape Cod League by Baseball America.

Professional career

Seattle Mariners

2006

In first professional season in 2006 he split time between Arizona League Mariners appearing in seven games and Single-A Inland Empire 66ers appearing in one game of the California League. He posted an 0-2 record overall with a 2.25 ERA in 16 innings striking out 17 batters and starting five games. He pitched three hitless innings for Inland Empire during his brief time there.

2007

Morrow was invited to spring training in 2007. He went 0-1 with a 1.08 ERA in 6 relief appearances and made the major league club despite being considered a long-shot to make the club at the start of spring.

Morrow made his Major League debut on April 3 against the Oakland Athletics in one scoreless inning.

Morrow went 3-4, with a 4.12 ERA in 60 appearances striking out 66 batters and walking 50. He held opposing hitters to a .243 batting average, including .221 against right-handed batters. He set a club rookie record with 18 holds, breaking old record of 13 set by Ed Vande Berg in 1982. Morrow had the fourth most appearances by a rookie reliever in club history with 60 and fifth most strikeouts with 66. Among American League rookie relievers Morrow ranked second in strikeouts, third in appearances and fourth in ERA.

On April 23 he earned his first major league win against the Texas Rangers, allowing one hit in career-high three and one third innings pitched. He recorded 18 and two thirds consecutive scoreless innings from April 20 to June 8. During the streak he went 2-0 while holding opposing batters to a .103 average. He also recorded another scoreless streak of 17 innings pitched over 15 outings from July 17 to August 24. Morrow held opponents scoreless in 44 of 60 outings.

2008

Brandon Morrow in 2009

In the off-season prior to the 2008 season, Morrow had been part of trade talks that would have sent him to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Erik Bedard, who eventually was traded to the Mariners for outfielder Adam Jones, reliever George Sherrill, and three minor league pitchers. Morrow was not included in the deal.

After missing two weeks of spring training in 2008 due to a sore shoulder[2], Morrow was optioned to the Mariners minor league affiliate Double-A West Tennessee on March 30. Morrow was recalled to the Seattle bullpen 17 days afterwards when Mariners starter Erik Bedard was placed on the 15-day disabled list.When Seattle's regular closer J.J. Putz became injured on June 12, Morrow took over his duties. Including a closing appearance on June 11, Morrow saved 8 games in 8 tries since then, until July 10 when he gave up two solo home runs to the Oakland Athletics to acquire his first blown save. He had only given up 2 runs all year prior to that, and had 40 strikeouts in 36.2 innings pitched, and a very low ERA of 1.76 and WHIP of 0.88. 

On August 5, 2008, Morrow was optioned to Triple-A to become a starting pitcher.

Morrow made his first MLB start on September 5, 2008, against the New York Yankees. Morrow went 7 2/3 no-hit innings in his first major league start and was 4 outs away to being just the 2nd player to throw a no hitter in their MLB starting debut only to see pinch hitter Wilson Betemit break it up. The Mariners went onto win the game 3-1 giving Morrow his first win as a starter.

2009

On March 29, 2009 the Mariners announced that Morrow would no longer be a starting pitcher; instead he would move into a relief role with the organization. Morrow, who is a diabetic, acknowledged that his diabetes was a factor in the decision, saying that it was easier to balance his blood sugar in a relief position.Morrow began the season as the closer and notched five saves through the end of April. However, he was placed on the disabled list on May 2 after he developed right biceps tendinitis. David Aardsma served as closer in his absence.

After coming of the disabled list Morrow made six starts before being optioned to the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers to develop back into a more rounded starting pitcher.

On August 14 Morrow pitched a four hit shutout against the Iowa Cubs. During that game Morrow struck out two, walked one and threw 59 of 96 pitches for strikes. Morrow retired 10 straight batters early in the game.

Morrow won his fifth consecutive decision for Tacoma tossing five scoreless innings to lead the Rainiers to a 4-1 win over the Portland Beavers on August 29. Morrow was removed from the game because of stiffness in his arm. Morrow was a part of the Rainiers' comeback in the PCL Pacific North.

On September 9 Morrow was called up to the Mariners. He was to start at least one game so manager Don Wakamatsu could assess Morrow's progress. He was in the starting rotation since his call-up.

On September 30, Morrow pitched arguably his best game of his career with the Mariners, when he pitched one-hit ball and only giving up two walks in 8 spectacular shutout innings against the Oakland Athletics. The Mariners won the game 7-0 and the M's pitching only allowed two hits to Oakland batters, the second coming from Landon Powell on a pitch by Shawn Kelley.

Toronto Blue Jays

On December 22, 2009 the Mariners agreed to trade Morrow to the Toronto Blue Jays, in return the Mariners received pitcher Brandon League and minor league outfielder Johermyn Chavez. 

On August 8, 2010, Morrow was one out away from a no-hitter against the Tampa Bay Rays when Evan Longoria hit an infield single. It would have been the first no-hitter in Blue Jays history since Dave Stieb in 1990.He finished the one-hitter for his first ever complete game while compiling 17 strikeouts, a career high for Morrow in a game and one strikeout shy of the team record 18 strikeouts set by Roger Clemens in 1998.

Pitching Style

Morrow throws a hard fastball which clocks between 92-97 miles range. He throws many breaking balls including a slider (84-87miles range), Curve (77-81miles range), and change-up (83-85 miles range).

Personal life

He is single and resides in Phoenix, Arizona. His favorite pitcher growing up was Pedro Martinez.

Morrow is a Type 1 diabetic who was diagnosed as a senior in high school. He wears an insulin pump to regulate his blood sugar levels.

(source:wikipedia)