2015 Paying off for Morales

After going through some growing pains last season, Andrew Morales is seeing his diligence pay off thus far in 2016.

The 23-year old got off to a 3-1 start for Springfield (AA) with a 2.16 ERA in the month of April, for which he was named the St. Louis Cardinals Minor League Pitcher of the Month.

“It definitely makes me a little hungrier to get out there and compete and do what I’ve been doing this year,” acknowledged Morales in a recent phone interview.

He also aised his scoreless streak to 16.0 innings with his last outing on Tuesday, though it was abbreviated as a precaution.

“Everything is great,” assured Morales.  “Just had a line drive come back at me, nick my right elbow, and basically squirt off my hip but other than that I’m doing fine.”

Drafted in 2014 (71st overall), Morales threw only 12.1 innings combined in Rookie/Single A before starting 2015 in Springfield. It took some getting used to be in what is regarded as a hitter’s league.

“It was tough, making the adjustment coming from college basically,” shared Morales. “But what I did was take in everything I learned–positive and negative and focused it to this 2016 season by learning how to read hitters and control the controllables. Having some veteran pitchers in front of me also, learning from them–learning from all my teammates. Hitters try and gather as much information as possible and just putting that in to my competition has really helped me out.”

The right-hander also points to a lot of consistency with his delivery and being more aggressive in the zone, which has cut down on his walks.

“Hitters are the same–you’ve got to remember it’s the same game and sometimes as a pitcher you give them a little too much credit,” pointed out Morales. “Having some big name guys or big time prospects, it’s true you can get a little timid at times and if you get timid, sometimes you tend to throw the ball over the plate or nibble at corners or walk batters. When you stay aggressive and continue with an approach–basically have and execute a game plan, you’re tough to hit no matter who you are.”

Using a four-pitch mix of his tw0-seam and four-seam fastballs with a curveball, slider, and changeup as well, Morales has been working in and out, up and down, changing the sequences in accordance with the signals from catcher Carson Kelly.

“We go over hitters constantly,” said Morales. “We have conversations, whether it’s during BP or things like that but he definitely makes an effort to make sure he knows each one of his pitchers and what they like to do and kind of how to manage the game properly with each pitcher.”

Morales is scheduled to make his next start this Sunday, May 8th at Tulsa.

photo credit: Brian Walton-TheCardinalNationBlog.com