RADIO
Charlie Morton 2023 Player Outlook: Veteran Seeking To Rekindle Some Old Magic
2 years agoIt's easy to look at Charlie Morton's 2022 numbers and believe Father Time has arrived to claim another victim. At 38 years old, Morton made 31 starts and had a 9-6 W-L record, 4.34 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 205 Ks (172.0 IP). Other than the 2020 season, it was the fifth consecutive year in which Morton had made at least 25 starts and also the first time he had an ERA over 4.00. But his underlying numbers suggest Morton wasn't as bad as it looked, with a 4.11 xERA, 3.60 xFIP and 3.48 SIERA. He maintained his elite strikeout numbers with a 28.2% K% ranking in the 82nd percentile but his 8.7% BB% was the highest Morton has had since 2018. Morton's 12.2% SwStr% was in line with the last few years but he was allowing more hard contact than before with a 9.5% Barrel% and 42.1% HardHit% both being career highs (since both stats were recorded in 2015). A large part of Morton's issues last year came from a 39.8% GB% (he had a 48.3% GB% over the previous five years). If he can get back to inducing more ground balls again, there's no reason Morton can't provide value on his ADP of ~177 and have one more solid season in his late 30s.
