The Cleveland Guardians have added more rookies this season than your average team.
Steven Kwan, Owen Miller, Oscar Gonzalez, Nolan Jones, Tyler Freeman, Konnor Pilkington, and others have made their debuts this year.
They announced yet another young player playing in MLB for the first time today, although the circumstances are not the same.
“Cody Morris will make his major-league debut tonight, starting in place of Zach Plesac, who has a right hand injury. More info to come on that front,” The Athletic’s Zack Meisel tweeted.
Cody Morris will make his major-league debut tonight, starting in place of Zach Plesac, who has a right hand injury. More info to come on that front.
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) September 2, 2022
As of Friday afternoon, the exact extent of Plesac’s injury and its timetable are not clear.
Those details will probably be revealed at some point over the weekend.
For now, it’s Morris’ time to shine.
Morris Has Talent In His Right Arm
According to FanGraphs’ prospect evaluator Eric Longengahen, Morris entered the season as the Guardians’ number 18 prospect.
Here is what he wrote about Morris:
“He has a chance to be an impact part of a pitching staff when healthy, but he hasn’t tended to be, and his misfortune has made it hard for him to build a foundation of starter’s innings, which makes him more likely to play a multi-inning relief role when he finally entrenches himself on a pitching staff.”
In other words, health had limited him prior to 2021, but he has always had talent.
This year, he has a brilliant 2.35 ERA in 15.1 Triple-A innings.
He has started three games and entered as a reliever in another three, but get this: over those 15.1 frames, he has 30 (!) strikeouts.
His fastball can sit in the mid-90s, and he also has a plus changeup and an average curveball.
He can miss bats, and if he can ever build up a starter’s workload, he could be quite a weapon for the Guardians.
If he can’t, relief awaits, and that’s not a bad thing at all.
NEXT: MLB Insider Comments On The Guardians' Current Run