Last night, Eli Morgan entered the game in the seventh inning in relief for Zach Plesac. Morgan pitched a perfect inning that included two strikeouts on only 10 pitches. These kinds of performances have become a norm for Eli Morgan, and he is quickly becoming a secret weapon for the Guardians.
Morgan has made 10 relief appearances for the Guardians this season for a total of 18 innings pitched. In those appearances, he has an ERA of 2.00 and has only allowed seven hits. He also has 21 strikeouts to go on top of this and only one walk.
Yes, only one walk!
This adds up to a WHIP of 0.444.
Morgan has been terrific specifically this month. In the month of May, he has an ERA of only 0.75 and has only given up two hits.
Morgan clearly has some impressive stats for a relief pitcher. But what makes him a secret weapon for the bullpen is that he has the ability to come into the game and pitch one inning or go for a long period of time. There have been three occasions this season where Morgan has come into the game and pitched at least three innings for the Guardians.
This is a big deal because if one of the starters is struggling and needs to be taken out of the game prematurely, Tito and Carl Willis know that they can count on Morgan to hold down the game for a few innings. The alternative to this is using two to three pitchers and risk overworking the bullpen.
If Morgan continues to impress in the long outings of relief, it would not be shocking to see him get more opportunities as a starter.
More must-reads: