Life is good for Charlie Morton.
The right-hander finished last season strong and helped the Pittsburgh Pirates reach the postseason for the first time since 1992 after recovering from Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery. He then signed a three-year, $21 million contract extension in December that bought out his final year of arbitration eligibility and his first two years of free agency.
However, the right-hander is not satisfied. The 30-year-old is looking for even bigger things in 2014.
“I want to have a better season than I did last year,” Morton said. “I feel you should always be looking to improve in this game or in anything you do.”
Morton pitched as well as at any time in his six-year career last season, going 7-4 with a 3.26 ERA in 20 starts after missing the first 10 weeks while rehabbing from his surgery.
However, the one downside to Morton’s 2013 season was that left-handers hitters batted .312 with an .844 OPS against him. Conversely, right-handers hit just .223 with a .552 OPS.
In an effort to combat lefties, Morton is working on a hybrid split-finger/changeup this spring. The pitch has been effective thus far and so has his signature biting sinker as Morton has not allowed a run in five innings in his first two Grapefruit League starts.
“When he’s on, his stuff is as nasty as anybody in the league,” Pirates second baseman Neil Walker said. “Now that he’s adding a pitch to get out lefties, he’s going to be even better.”
NOTES, QUOTES
–1B Gaby Sanchez returned to the lineup on Wednesday after sitting out four days with a strained right knee. Sanchez will, at the very least, be the right-handed hitting half of a first-base platoon. He could wind up being the everyday first baseman if the Pirates fail to trade for a first baseman this spring or rookie left-handed hitters OF/1B Andrew Lambo and 1B Chris McGuiness do not show that they merit playing time.
–LHP Jeff Locke has not yet been penciled back into the Pirates’ spring rotation after being scratched from his scheduled start on Wednesday because of tightness in his right side. Locke said he is feeling no pain and the Pirates’ medical staff wanted to be cautious and not put him in position where he could be injured further. Despite being selected to the All-Star Game last season, Locke is unlikely to beat out RHP Edinson Volquez for the No. 5 starter. Locke still has minor-league options remaining and went 2-5 with a 6.12 ERA in 12 starts after the All-Star break.
–Volquez struggled in his first two outings of the Grapefruit League season. In three innings, he has allowed three runs and two hits while walking three and striking out one. Volquez admits that he has been overthrowing in an attempt to show the Pirates they made a wise decision by signing him to a one-year, $5 million contract as a free agent even though he allowed a National League-worst 108 earned runs last season.
–OF Jaff Decker has only an outside shot to beat out OF Jose Tabata and OF Travis Snider for the starting right fielder’s job. However, he could up winning a bench spot if he continues to impress the way he has during the early stages of Grapefruit League play. The rookie has done a little bit of everything, including executing a successful suicide squeeze and throwing a runner out at home plate. The Pirates acquired Decker from the San Diego Padres in a November trade.
–OF Austin Meadows, the first of the Pirates’ two first-round picks in last year’s amateur draft, has been sidelined by a strained right hamstring that he injured in a base-running drill. Meadows is expected to begin the season at low-Class A West Virginia and is ranked as the Pirates’ No. 4 prospect by Baseball America. The 18-year-old hit a combined .316 with seven home runs in 48 games with the rookie-level Gulf Coast League Pirates and short season Jamestown last season.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “I’m just happy to be healthy. I know when I’m healthy that I’m a much more productive player than I was last year,” — Snider, who hit .215 with five home runs in 111 games in 2013 while being hampered by a foot injury that was surgically repaired after the season.