Keeler Morfe 2024

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

I can probably name 3-5 guys and give that same answer to. 
 

I don’t think this happens but I really don’t think it’s that crazy especially considering our alternatives.

He may be young enough to not know the magnitude of things. 

 

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

I’ll tell you this, I’d rather watch them give Keeler Morfe a taste of postseason ball than endure any more of Bryan Baker.   

I love the aggression and out of the box thinking... But is there any precedent for a kid that young and with so little experience contributing to a playoff team? The kid just turned 18 two months ago and has 3 innings at A level! He is 2.5 years younger than Jackson Holliday.

[Just Regular]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

Their season ends on Sept 8…4 more Saturdays

Looks like Aberdeen ends that same week, so they'd have to skip him to Bowie Saturday 9/14 if goofing around with the Frankie Rodriguez scenario.

What else does a Venezuelan kid have to do in September?     I guess the uniform player contracts prevent the organization from getting him a studio apartment next to the pitching lab all winter.    IRL there are perhaps temporary work visa scenarios to deal with here too.

[Frobby]

43 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

 

I love the aggression and out of the box thinking... But is there any precedent for a kid that young and with so little experience contributing to a playoff team? The kid just turned 18 two months ago and has 3 innings at A level! He is 2.5 years younger than Jackson Holliday.

To be clear, I’m not advocating for it.  It would be fun to see.  No, I’m not aware of any precedent for that.  Felix Hernandez was in the majors and pitching well at age 19, but he had about 300 innings of pro experience when he debuted.  

[Just Regular]

Orion Kerkering was 2023's fastest mover but he was a US college kid.    He threw at all four full season levels and Dombrowski put him into the Phillies postseason pen.

[OriolesMagic83]

2 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

 

I love the aggression and out of the box thinking... But is there any precedent for a kid that young and with so little experience contributing to a playoff team? The kid just turned 18 two months ago and has 3 innings at A level! He is 2.5 years younger than Jackson Holliday.

Yeah, that screams of desperation, which is understandable being an O's fan watching this mess.  I'm sure the O's aren't thinking of anything like that.  I'm wondering if he pitches well at Delmarva if they might convert him to the pen, move him up quickly in the minors and try to get him to Baltimore next year sometime as Bautista's set up man.  That would be sick 2 guys throwing 101+ back to back. 

[Aristotelian]

1 minute ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

Yeah, that screams of desperation, which is understandable being an O's fan watching this mess.  I'm sure the O's aren't thinking of anything like that.  I'm wondering if he pitches well at Delmarva if they might convert him to the pen, move him up quickly in the minors and try to get him to Baltimore next year sometime as Bautista's set up man.  That would be sick 2 guys throwing 101+ back to back. 

He might be throwing 104 by then!

[jabba72]

1 hour ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

Yeah, that screams of desperation, which is understandable being an O's fan watching this mess.  I'm sure the O's aren't thinking of anything like that.  I'm wondering if he pitches well at Delmarva if they might convert him to the pen, move him up quickly in the minors and try to get him to Baltimore next year sometime as Bautista's set up man.  That would be sick 2 guys throwing 101+ back to back. 

That seems more reasonable than promoting him this year, but Morfe's only pitched 25 innings this year, and 22 last year. Not alot of wear on his arm. I dont know how Elias like to manage 17-18 year old arms beyond that Morfe roughly makes 1 start per week.

If Morfe has another solid start or two we'll start hearing more buzz about what the team thinks of him.

[Just Regular]

2 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

He might be throwing 104 by then!

Morfe will be another test case, but I do somewhat believe Grayson has been coached not to try to max it out.     It remains murky if this process has begat any kind of favorable outcome.

Hopefully Aaron Judge or even better Manny Machado or Austin Hays will find that out in a couple months.

Most pitchers have to Driveline it up so they can be arm barn-ed, but a few are not.

[sportsfan8703]

13 hours ago, Just Regular said:

Morfe will be another test case, but I do somewhat believe Grayson has been coached not to try to max it out.     It remains murky if this process has begat any kind of favorable outcome.

Hopefully Aaron Judge or even better Manny Machado or Austin Hays will find that out in a couple months.

Most pitchers have to Driveline it up so they can be arm barn-ed, but a few are not.

Yeah, do some dead lifts, bench presses, put on weight too fast, throw 104 at driveline, then need TJ within 2 years. 

Everyone thought places like driveline were so smart. Gee, throw as hard as you can every pitch. Gee, I wonder in the history of baseball if that had never been thought about. TJ. 

[CaptainRedbeard]

Kiley McDaniel just re-ranked the top 100 prospects and Morfe didn’t make the list, but he apparently got consideration. If Morfe finishes the season pitching like he has all year, I expect he might start popping up on top 100 lists this offseason. 

[Rbiggs2525]

2 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Yeah, do some dead lifts, bench presses, put on weight too fast, throw 104 at driveline, then need TJ within 2 years. 

Everyone thought places like driveline were so smart. Gee, throw as hard as you can every pitch. Gee, I wonder in the history of baseball if that had never been thought about. TJ. 

The sad thing about this is it goes all the way down to the high school level and there is so much money involved. They need to do something about it but I’m not sure what. Maybe have some type of pitcher coalition.

[interloper]

2 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Yeah, do some dead lifts, bench presses, put on weight too fast, throw 104 at driveline, then need TJ within 2 years. 

Everyone thought places like driveline were so smart. Gee, throw as hard as you can every pitch. Gee, I wonder in the history of baseball if that had never been thought about. TJ. 

Isn't it interesting, though, how guys like Chapman are throwing literally 105 (this season!) at age 36 (!) and have never had TJS (!). 

Guys like that should be studied in a lab. 

[Tony-OH]

2 hours ago, interloper said:

Isn't it interesting, though, how guys like Chapman are throwing literally 105 (this season!) at age 36 (!) and have never had TJS (!). 

Guys like that should be studied in a lab. 

Chapman is an oddity, similar to Nolan Ryan when it comes to throwing heat at an advanced age and not getting hurt. 

It would be interesting to see if someone has studied their mechanics to see if it's mechanics related, or just that they are physical freaks.

Morfe throwing as hard as he is right now seems to be an early physical freak because there are not many 18-year old who can hit 101 MPH (His reported high this season). The question like with all young pitchers is whether he will hold up. 

We also don't know yet whether babying their pitch counts and innings like the Orioles do works or not. It's not like the Orioles system is immune to TJ surgeries and injuries to their pitchers at the major and minor league levels.

 

 

 

[sportsfan8703]

6 hours ago, CaptainRedbeard said:

Kiley McDaniel just re-ranked the top 100 prospects and Morfe didn’t make the list, but he apparently got consideration. If Morfe finishes the season pitching like he has all year, I expect he might start popping up on top 100 lists this offseason. 

Talk about a fast riser and coming out of nowhere.  Pretty soon he'll start to be included in the standard board trade scenario for Skubal/Crochet.  hahahaha

[OriolesMagic83]

12 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Talk about a fast riser and coming out of nowhere.  Pretty soon he'll start to be included in the standard board trade scenario for Skubal/Crochet.  hahahaha

We need a new big 3:  Basallo, Morfe and maybe Honeycutt if things go right with him.