Hillcats’ Morris shows flashes of potential

Potential seems to be a buzzword in the Steel City these days.

Potential explains just about every personnel move the Pittsburgh Pirates have made in the last two seasons. They traded Jason Bay last summer and got back plenty of potential, including a former first-round draft pick in Dodgers’ farmhand Bryan Morris.

More potential dots the Lynchburg roster in the second half of the Carolina League season. Left-handed pitcher Jeff Locke came over in the trade that sent the popular Nate McLouth to Atlanta. Outfielder/catcher Eric Fryer, obtained Tuesday when the Pirates traded Eric Hinske to the Yankees, is expected to begin a stint with Lynchburg today.

With that in mind, many Pirates fans are keeping a keen eye on the goings-on in Lynchburg, looking to see how all of that potential is progressing.

Morris was in the spotlight Wednesday night at City Stadium. Though he didn’t figure in the decision — Salem won 5-4 when Yamaico Navarro slammed a 1-0 Mike Colla pitch in the eighth inning over the left field wall — Morris put forth another intriguing line, one that could have been so much better had his defense not failed him.

Morris lasted just 3 2/3 innings Wednesday, but the Hillcats committed three errors behind him. In his last two starts, he’s allowed 11 runs in 8 1/3 innings, but only four have been earned.

There were some signs of encouragement Wednesday, though:

w Morris made it through another start unscathed. Some pitchers take this for granted. Morris doesn’t. He’s already undergone Tommy John surgery and was shut down late last season due to shoulder stiffness and early this season because of an impingement in his shoulder.

Since returning from a stint in Bradenton, Fla., at the Pirates’ extended spring training facility, Morris has been wholly focused on keeping his shoulder healthy. He does extra shoulder strengthening exercises between starts and closely monitors any soreness in the shoulder. So far, there haven’t been any setbacks.

“You can’t go anywhere without being healthy,” Morris said. “That’s my goal. Just to be able to pitch every five days. I’m still in the process of smoothing my mechanics. Now that I’ve learned a little bit, I think I can keep myself in line and keep my shoulder feeling pretty good.”

w He’s starting to regain some zip. His velocity is down from its peak (around 95 mph), but his fastball consistently clicks in the low 90s and Wednesday, he posted a season-high five strikeouts in his shortest start of the season. (Had there not been an eight-minute rain delay, Morris would have finished the fourth inning.)

Morris’ strikeout-to-innings ratio is lower this year than at any point in his career, but he said Wednesday he felt some of his power coming back.

“Whenever I got two strikes on somebody tonight, for the most part, I actually made the pitches,” Morris said. “The last two starts, I’d get two strikes and throw one over the middle of the plate and they’d hit a ground ball. I did a little bit better of a job. When I got ahead of somebody, I put them away.”

w Morris’ control is starting to come back. Ever since experiencing the shoulder soreness after the trade last summer, Morris’ walk rate has skyrocketed. In 82 innings at Great Lakes of the Low-A Midwest League last year, he walked 31. In 14 innings in Hickory after the trade, he walked 12. He had walked 11 in 19 1/3 innings prior to Wednesday’s start but walked just one Salem batter.

Don’t forget, Morris’ July is like other pitchers’ May. He didn’t make his first start this year until June 7.

“They were throwing 75 pitches in April, and I’m throwing 75 in June and July,” Morris said. “That all takes care of itself over the course of the year. When I actually get to pitch, I get to build on it. So that’s good.”