Charlie Morton Has Quietly Been the Best Pitcher in the American League
By Ryan Flores
When you ask MLB fans about American League pitchers, you'll heard a lot of them mention Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Chris Sale, with the list going on and on. However, it's rare that you ever here fans talk about Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Charlie Morton, even though he's arguably been the best pitcher in the American League.
Charlie made 'em say Uncle. #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/324md0c8y9
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) July 3, 2019
Morton has been absolutely lights out this year, posting a 9-2 record with a 2.36 ERA, to go with 132 strikeouts in 107 innings of work. He has also held batters to an insane .194 batting average against him. In the AL, he currently ranks first in ERA, sixth in strikeouts, fourth in WHIP and third in BAA.
Lighting up BAL with 12 strikeouts Tuesday, @RaysBaseball all-star Charlie Morton moved into 6th on this list of 1st half pitching excellence (with 1 scheduled start left before the break) pic.twitter.com/snhyvDFpHi
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) July 3, 2019
While these are all great stats, what's really telling about Morton is his FIP, which focuses on strikeouts, unintentional walks, hit-by-pitches and home runs. Morton currently ranks first in the AL in that category, with an awesome 2.87 mark, showing how in control he is on the mound. He ranks behind only Max Scherzer in all of baseball in FIP, as Max currently sports an absurd 2.10 mark.
The Rays getting Charlie Morton for 2/$30M last winter was an incredible heist
— Scott Coleman (@scottcoleman55) July 3, 2019
9-2, 2.36 ERA, 2.86 FIP, 11.10 K/9, 2.94 BB/9, on pace for a 6 WAR season. Legitimately one of the better pitchers in baseball at age 35
Morton is currently on track to have the best FIP and ERA of his 12 years of service.
The Rays signed Morton this offseason to a two-year, $30 million deal, which as of right now looks like an absolute steal for the 35-year-old right hander. With Blake Snell taking a step back this year after posting an incredible season where he captured the Cy Young award, Morton has stepped up to become the Rays ace this year.
Going off the statistics, the best all-around pitcher that deserves the AL Cy Young is Charlie Morton. 9-2, 2.36 ERA (best in AL), .580 OPS, and over 11 strikes per 9 innings. Morton has been dominant all year and it shows! pic.twitter.com/J9T6nmDm9c
— The Sideline Statsman (@TStatsman) July 3, 2019
Morton has been absolutely phenomenal, and has the potential to capture his first Cy Young award this year if he can keep it going in the second half. It would be the second consecutive year a Rays pitcher has won the award.
Tampa fans, you've got yourselves a good one.