Something Special

Dave Cameron uses Charlie Morton to nicely sum up what made the 2017 season so special:

Baseball will always have bigger-than-life stars, guys who were born with gifts of which others can only dream. But Morton is a reminder that talking about any player’s “ceiling” is basically a fool’s errand. If one can go from throwing 90 to 99 and turn his looping breaking ball into a devastating power curve, then every player’s upside is turning into the best player in the game. So many of this year’s elite players weren’t supposed to be superstars.

And yet, when the games mattered most, it was Morton facing guys like Taylor, a former slap-hitting shortstop who got to the majors with his glovework, but now is an offense-first outfielder who hits the crap out the baseball. This series had the Correas and the Seagers and the Kershaws, sure, but don’t let anyone tell you the Astros are champions simply because they lost 100 games three years in a row. They’re also champions because they gave Charlie Morton $14 million as a free agent, got mocked for it, and then watched him throw the best stuff in the World Series.

So much of baseball in 2017 feels like it came out of nowhere, so it is fitting that Morton ended this season by throwing the kind of heat usually reserved for No. 1 picks. Being great isn’t just for those born with it anymore. With hard work, Charlie Morton became something else this year, and because of that effort, he and his teammates can call themselves champions.

I was certainly one of the mockers. To Morton, my apologies.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2h6c4lO