Questioning Mike Morin’s 2014 season

The Angels have been waiting on a contingent of relief prospects to arrive in the majors and bolster the bullpen. They finally reaped the first of that crop when they called up Mike Morin early in the season and steadily incorporated him into being a key member of the revamped relief corps.

How good is that changeup?
So, so good. I have a crush on Morin’s changeup. I want to buy it flowers, take it out to dinner and bring it home to meet my parents so that they can give me judgmental looks. It truly is a thing of beauty.

The best part about it is that Morin hasn’t even really learned to use it optimally yet. Morin basically only throws the changeup when the count is even or in his favor. This despite him being able to consistently throw it in the zone and generate a high percentage of whiffs. It is basically what he uses when he wants to put a hitter away. In time, he’ll learn to use it to set batters up as well.

Why did Morin struggle down the stretch?
Morin had a bit of a rough go in the final two months. It seemed to all start after he somehow landed on the DL because he stepped on some glass while walking on the beach in Tampa. Seriously.

The injury almost certainly had nothing to do with his struggles, but that just happens to be when things started. The real issue was that Morin’s fastball command just isn’t where it needs to be. He throws hard enough and has enough movement, but he just doesn’t hit the zone enough. As a result, Morin would pain himself into a corner by falling behind in the count, which caused him to keep his changeup in the bag. That meant more fastballs, which is probably Morin’s worst pitch. This is a big reason why he needs to be more aggressive about using his changeup in situations where most pitchers wouldn’t.

What is Morin’s ceiling?
He’s probably never going to be a closer since he isn’t overpowering, but that’s probably for the best. Morin is too utilitarian to pigeonhole into the ninth inning. He is able to miss enough bats to get a strikeout when it is needed, but he is also able to induce grounders when needed. In 59 innings, Morin induced seven GIDPs. His groundball rate on the season was a pretty neutral 43.9%, but he is able to get that grounder when it is called for, making him a very valuable reliever that you can bring into a high leverage situation mid-inning. That’s exactly how Scioscia used him and should keep using him.

Maybe someday Morin graduates to a rubber-armed setup man a la Scot Shields, but he isn’t there yet. Morin can do a lot of different things, but one thing he doesn’t do yet is handle lefties very well. He murdered righties to the tune of a .227 wOBA but lefties touched him up for a .316 wOBA. That’s kind of odd since changeups are usually effective at normalizing opposite hand hitters, so maybe this is just a one-year blip, but it might also be an indicator that he’s got to figure out some things in his attack plan against lefties.

When does he get his Gold Glove?
Relievers don’t ever win the Gold Glove, but maybe Morin and his cat-like reflexes will change all of that:

I’m just sayin’.

Final Answer
Even with some turnover in the bullpen, Morin figures to find himself in a similar role to start next season. So long as he works out his command issues from the second half, he even has a good shot at becoming Mike Scioscia’s annual selection as the reliever that he works into the ground. Fun!