The Atlanta Braves have had some early-season blues to start the 2022 championship-defending season. The bats have struggled, but inexplicably, so has the pitching. Braves insider Grant McAuley joined Dukes & Bell to discuss the performance of Charlie Morton, but also how he's confident that he can turn it around.
Charlie Morton has received the brunt of criticism for his early-season performance. The 38-year-old starter had his contract extended in September of last season after a successful 2021 campaign, but he has been sluggish out of the gate to start this year. After Tuesday's loss to the Mets, the veteran pitcher's ERA is 6.85 and he's allowed 27 hits, 19 runs, and issued 14 walks in only 23.2 innings pitched.
"He's not getting the swing and miss," McAuley said. "Charlie Morton is an incredibly thoughtful pitcher on everything that he does."
There's confidence that he can turn it around because of the time and effort that Morton puts into each of his pitches. There's a reason the pitcher has been playing at the level he has for so long and after a very short ramp-up period, he seems to be finding his rhythm.
"His fastball is there, his curveball is there," McAuley said. "The consistency is just not there in terms of overall command, but I did like what he did after having to struggle through a couple of innings with a high pitch count and the Mets jumping out to an early lead. He was able to buckle in and shuffle the deck a little bit."
Morton went back to his changeup and found some success. He was then able to deal out his curveball as a "swing-and-miss" pitch to punch out batters.
But these are just early season kinks that are normally worked out during Spring Training. The stunted Spring has reared its ugly head against the Braves' staff.
"This is the outcome of not having the three or four extra outings in spring training," McAuley said. "Maybe that's an excuse and nobody wants to hear it, and he certainly doesn't want to say it, but starting pitchers are creatures of habit and that is one of the reasons that this staff has started slowly."
Morton is a veteran pitcher that has seen the highs and lows that an MLB season brings. There is an overwhelming feeling of confidence in the Braves' locker room that he will turn things around. This just isn't the time to panic, because he sure isn't.
