Keeler Morfe 2024

[Tony-OH]

Please stay on the subject of Morfe in his thread. Thanks.

[baltfan]

4 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

You think he passes on Dylan Crews?

A college outfielder?

Saying Skenes would have been a lock has a whiff of hindsight.

 

Crews wasn't a generational talent.  Skenes was.  I don't think he passes up Skenes.  None of the generational talent college arms haven't hit. You could say McDonald wasn't amazing, but he was still pretty darn good.  Strasburg hit.  Price hit.  Yes, I know about the Appel situation, but Appel wasn't the kind of talent that we are talking about.  I definitely agree he would never take a high school pitcher or guy like Appel 1/1

[Frobby]

On 8/11/2024 at 7:27 AM, Warehouse said:

 

I noticed that in the 2023 International Signings Tracker thread, Tony gave this description: "16-yr old, 5-11 Venezuelan with "lightning quick" arm up to 95 MPH. Solid slider already and pitchability is good. $210K"   So, I'm taking that 5'8" reference with a heavy grain of salt.

[Tony-OH]

21 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I noticed that in the 2023 International Signings Tracker thread, Tony gave this description: "16-yr old, 5-11 Venezuelan with "lightning quick" arm up to 95 MPH. Solid slider already and pitchability is good. $210K"   So, I'm taking that 5'8" reference with a heavy grain of salt.

I wouldn't go by that to offset the 5-8 height in Baseball reference. I'm sure I know who told me that, but they may have had the height wrong or rounded up, or maybe I wrote it down wrong. Watching Morfe pitch for Delmarva, he certainly looks short so 5-8 or 5-9 could certainly be his height. 

Either way, when you sit 98-99, and have touched 101 this year at 18-years old, I don't care what your height is, that's impressive. The slider was tight too and I even saw a workable change in there that he seems to have at some feel for. 

If he stays healthy, he could be special. 

[Just Regular]

Here's a spicy custom leaderboard with him and the other BAL arms at 25 IP this season - the 35+ K-bb as of today well above the fray.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/minor-league?pos=all&level=0&lg=2,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,14,12,13,15,16,17,18,30,32&stats=pit&qual=25&type=1&team=&season=2024&seasonEnd=2024&org=2&ind=0&splitTeam=false&players=&sort=11,1&pg=0

If I zoom that out to all 30 clubs, Morfe's present 45.9 K% is 2nd among 2475 affiliated pitchers this year.

[DocJJ]

I know there have been some shorter starting pitchers who have had success- Marcus Stroman, Tom Gordon, Tim Lincecum...   but I still think someone that small with that kind of stuff should be a closer.  It's just hard to imagine that kind of frame withstanding that kind of punishment for 6+ innings at a time...

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, DocJJ said:

I know there have been some shorter starting pitchers who have had success- Marcus Stroman, Tom Gordon, Tim Lincecum...   but I still think someone that small with that kind of stuff should be a closer.  It's just hard to imagine that kind of frame withstanding that kind of punishment for 6+ innings at a time...

Makes sense.

It would also make sense that someone like Tyler Wells at 6'8" 260 would be durable.

[jabba72]

So there's basically only been one or two people 5-8 or lower who have ever been able to throw 99. Morfe and maybe a couple other guys. He's in rare company. I don't see how he'll be able to hold up as a 100-pitch starter for some reason, but its still super cool. We'll see how the O's deploy him going forward and definitely next year. 

[Rbiggs2525]

He looks like a real athlete out there too. Reminds me of a shortstop that couldn’t hit. Some of his pick off attempts were sensational. 

[RZNJ]

Baseball America

This weeks Hot Sheet.

HELIUM

Keeler Morfe, RHP, Orioles

Morfe signed with the Orioles in 2023, when his fastball was already bumping 95 mph as a 16-year-old. Until this past week, he’d spent his entire career in the Dominican Summer League. This year, he was one of the best pitching prospects on the circuit, having struck out 38 hitters in 22 innings. In that span, he allowed just 11 hits and walked eight. This past week, Baltimore moved Morfe to Low-A for his debut. It was spectacular. Facing Salem, the righthander struck out seven and allowed just one hit over three innings. He pounds the zone with three pitches that flash plus. There are questions about whether his smaller frame will hold up to the rigors of a starter’s workload, but his pure stuff is undeniable. (JN)

[CaptainRedbeard]

The idea that height has any correlation to durability never made any sense to me. I’d expect the most important factor in durability is mechanics and being able to utilize your lower body and core to generate power and less through arm strength. In that sense, durability would probably be more correlated with weight/BMI so long as it’s with good conditioning - like perhaps something like Corbin Burnes’ build is ideal.

In any case, I think the reason there are so few short pitchers is simply because height means longer levers - more potential to generate velocity - and closer release point to the plate is more effective velocity. It’s rare to be short and have the ability to be as effective as taller pitchers. But height and those longer levers can also mean challenges with mechanics and command, so it’s a trade off - if you’re short but still have good effective velocity, being short is not a bad thing, and can even help in effectiveness if it means a unique release point.

Morfe is one of the rare short pitchers who, despite his height, can generate big velo. And even at 18, has a good breaking ball and flashing a potential solid changeup. They’re going to baby him in his usage because he’s 18, but I don’t see any reason to think his height will limit him from being a starting pitcher if he does not generate that velo with high effort reliever-type mechanics. For instance, Sonny Gray and Marcus Stroman have been starters for a long time. 

[Prodigyx]

You would think that if he signed at 16 he could have possibly grown another couple inches from the original 5'8.  I doubt that with the younger international players they're asking for updated hight measurements each year. 

[SemperFi]

On 8/11/2024 at 1:58 PM, Warehouse said:

 

One of the big questions is the accuracy of the listed height. Has it changed since he signed at 16 1/2 years old?  Tony’s January 2023 write-up listed Morfe at 5’11.  Felix Bautista was originally listed at 6’5 and 190 lbs until finally updated.  Also, a lot of shorter veteran pitchers inflate their higher - e.g., round up to 6’0 from 5’11- which may make it seem like there are fewer shorter pitchers than reality.

Below is what I found in terms of pitchers 5’10 or shorter.  I couldn’t find a good way to sort or search so this list likely isn’t comprehensive.

Pitcher	Height	Type	L/R	Avg FF velo
Daniel Herrera	5'6	RP	L	82.5
Clayton Andrews	5'6	RP	L	94.8
Marcus Stroman	5'7	SP	R	93.4
Tim Collins	5'7	RP	L	93.3
Yuki Matsui	5'8	RP	L	92.2
Deivi Garcia	5'9	SP/RP	L	93.3
Matt Bush	5'9	RP	R	97.2
Jason Frasor	5'9	RP	R	93.6
Tom Gordon	5'9	SP/RP	R	~93
Brian Barnes	5'9	SP	L	~82
Yoshinobu Yamamoto	5'10	SP	R	95.5
Shota Imanaga	5'10	SP	L	91.8
Kirby Yates	5'10	RP	R	93.5
Kelvin Herrera	5'10	RP	R	98.3
Greg Holland	5'10	RP	R	94.9
Kris Medlen	5'10	SP	R	90.5
Sonny Gray	5'10	SP	R	93.2
Austin Pruitt	5'10	SP/RP	R	91.7
John Franco	5'10	RP	L	~90
Billy Wagner	5'10	RP	L	~96
Danny Coulombe	5'10	RP	L	90.6
Eli Morgan	5'10	SP/RP	R	91.6
Whitey Ford	5'10	SP	L	~87

 

There are a lot of 5’11 pitchers, including:

Johnny Cueto

Bartolo Colon

Tim Lincecum

Fernando Rodney

Freddy Peralta

David Robertson

Pedro Martinez

Yordano Ventura

Fernando Valenzuela

 

 

This unassuming, bespectacled guy is likely the hardest thrower ever in franchise history, many think MLB history-but sadly never threw a pitch in the majors.

"it was assumed conservatively that Dalkowski, when right, could throw a baseball at well over 105 mph."

Dalko was "generously" listed at 5'11" 175 lbs.

The Wildest Fastball Ever - Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com

Steve Dalkowski - Wikipedia

 

 

[doccat]

Is it pronounced Morfe like "Dorf" or Morfe like "More Fay"?

[86this]

1 hour ago, doccat said:

Is it pronounced Morfe like "Dorf" or Morfe like "More Fay"?

I watched the Shorebird's game from Sat and the in-game announcer said "More Fay".  This was the Red Sox announcer so I can't be sure the Shorebird's announcer would say it differently.