Before this season, Charlie Morton's reputation was that of a guy who really knew his way around a guitar, but struggled when it came to mastering a pitcher's mound.
But thanks to a hot start and a revamped pitching approach, things are finally starting to even out for the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander. Morton, 27, is 5-1 with a 2.62 ERA through eight starts in 2011. That includes a complete game 5-0 shutout victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night ? the second time this season he's gone all nine innings in a win over the defending division champions.
That line pairs pretty well with Morton's musical songwriting abilities, which he has never been shy about sharing. Like a true troubadour, he carries his guitar on road trips and even performed for his baseball fans at Pirate Fest in 2010, raising $400 for Haitian relief efforts during the 20 minutes he was on stage.
Here's one of his songs he played at the convention:
It may not be your cup of tea, but you have to admit that it's not bad, right?
For the uninitiated, Morton has long been known as a musical talent around the majors. According to MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch, he even wrote the song for the first dance at the wedding of Braves teammate Chuck James before he came to the Pirates in 2009 as part of the Nate McLouth trade with Atlanta.
Whether or not his pitching skills remain equal to his showmanship remains up for debate. In fact, a current school of thought says the belief that Morton can keep sustaining this start to make fans forget about his first three seasons ? when he went a combined 11-29 with a 5.98 ERA ? remains the territory of the super optimistic. His strikeout-to-walk ratio can't be mistaken for strong at 29/26 over 55 innings and his 0.3 HR/9 rate is below his previous career mark of 1.1. He's also walking more people than usual and his xFIP pegs him at 3.91. As Dave Cameron writes on FanGraphs, Morton will have to keep making adjustments with his fastball and sinker if he wants to continue pitching well.
Of course, at least he has another career to fall back on if things regress a bit.
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