Brandon Morrow

Infobox MLB player

---

width=200
name=Brandon Morrow
position=Starting pitcher
team=Seattle Mariners
number=35
bats=Right
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1984|7|26
birthplace=city-state|Santa Rosa|California
debutdate=April 3
debutyear=2007
debutteam=Seattle Mariners
statyear=2008 season
stat1label=Win-Loss
stat1value=6-8
stat2label=Earned run average
stat2value=3.73
stat3label=Strikeouts
stat3value=141
teams=
*Seattle Mariners (by|2007-present)

Brandon John Morrow (born July 26, 1984 in Santa Rosa, California) is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Seattle Mariners.

Morrow attended Rancho Cotate High School in Rohnert Park, California. He was selected by the Anaheim Angels in the 40th round (1200th overall) in the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft. However, he did not sign with the Angels and decided to attend college at California.

Morrow was a starter at California, and in his final season had a record of 7-4 with an ERA of 2.05. He was then selected by the Seattle Mariners in the 1st round (5th overall) in the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft.

After signing with the Mariners, he was assigned to the AZL Mariners, their Rookie League team. He pitched in 8 games (5 starts) for the organization in 2006 including 1 start for the Inland Empire 66ers, the Mariners High Single-A team. He pitched a combine 2.25 ERA and went 0-2.

Major League Baseball career

Morrow was invited to spring training in mlby|2007. He went 0-1 with a 1.08 ERA in 6 relief appearances and made the major league club.

In Morrow's first season in the Major Leagues, he was used strictly as a reliever, putting up solid numbers all year. In 63.2 innings, he went 3-4 with a 4.12 ERA in 60 games. He struck out 66 batters and walked 50 batsmen, which increased his WHIP to 1.67.

In the off-season prior to the mlby|2008 season, Morrow had been part of trade talks that would have sent him to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Erik Bedard, who eventually was traded to the Mariners for outfielder Adam Jones, reliever George Sherrill, and three minor league pitchers. Morrow was not included in the deal.

After missing two weeks of spring training in 2008 due to a sore shoulder [ [http://www.kffl.com/player/15027/MLB KFFL - Brandon Morrow, P, Seattle Mariners ] ] , Morrow was optioned to the Mariners minor league affiliate Double-A West Tennessee on March 30. Morrow was recalled to the Seattle bullpen 17 days afterwards when Mariners starter Erik Bedard was placed on the 15-day disabled list. [ [http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/mariners/2008/04/morrow_called_up.html Mariners Blog | Morrow called up | Seattle Times Newspaper Blog ] ] When Seattle's regular closer J.J. Putz became injured on June 12, Morrow took over his duties. Including a closing appearance on June 11, Morrow saved 8 games in 8 tries since then, until July 10 when he gave up two solo home runs to the Oakland Athletics to acquire his first blown save. He had only given up 2 runs all year prior to that, and had 40 strikeouts in 36.2 innings pitched, and a very low ERA of 1.76 and WHIP of 0.88. [Citation
title = ESPN Player Stats
url = http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=28734
accessdate = 2008-07-06]

On August 5, 2008, Morrow was optioned to Triple-A to become a starting pitcher. [Citation
title = Seattle Weekly: The Bright Spot in an Awful Season
url = http://www.seattleweekly.com/2008-08-13/news/the-bright-spot-in-an-awful-season.php/1
accessdate = 2008-08-18]

Morrow made his first MLB start on September 5, 2008, against the New York Yankees. Morrow went 7 2/3 no-hit innings in his first major league start and was 4 outs away to being just the 2nd player to throw a no hitter in their MLB starting debut only to see pinch hitter Wilson Betemit break it up. The Mariners went onto win the game 3-1 giving Morrow his first win as a starter. Morrow left the game to a thunderous ovation from the fans at Safeco Field. [Citation
title = Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Morrow's first start for M's will be against Yankees
url = http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/archives/147185.asp?source=rss
accessdate = 2008-08-30]

References

External links

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