Morales Worth a Flier

August 25, 2007 @ 16:00:00

By David Wysocki
Edited by Ryan Dodson

When southpaw Franklin Morales got the call to hurl against the Los Angeles Dodgers in his major league initiation, someone forgot to tell him he should be nervous and timid. He should be a little wild and crack in pressure situations. You could see it all now; Catcher Russell Martin up there with a couple guys on, sweat and fear clouding the 21-year-old's confidence and composure. Then everyone would know that the next pitch Martin saw would be ripped into the welcoming left field bleachers at Dodger Stadium.

Apparently, the guy that should've struggled seemed to have missed the memo and decided to write his own version of the story.

On August 18, Morales, the Venezuelan fire-baller, made his major league debut for the Colorado Rockies in a 14-inning win over Los Angeles. He made us call the fading boys in blue "the Bums" at least for another night as he pitched 5 1/3 innings allowing just one run and struck out four making most he faced look like they belonged in the lumber business.

Even though the Dodgers have been struggling at the plate this season, this phenomenon has been witnessed before with Morales. He has an electric 96-mph heater and a simply devastating hook. His stuff resembles some of the better starting pitchers in the game.

Over four seasons in the minors Morales has stacked a 29-21 record and has struck out 462 in 428 innings. That places his strikeouts per nine at a stately 9.71.

The Rockies have thought of Morales as their most precious farm hand for quite a while, as far as pitchers go, and he has gained respect around baseball. He signed as a free agent in November of 2002, and in July he pitched in the Futures Game dazzling fans, players and scouts with scorching heat that some said hit 97. 

With all the positive waves surrounding the prized blue-chipper, many questions should be asked as well. Remember, the mile high altitudes that have allowed slugging prospects to see mile high potentials have also played games with and ruined solid rookie and veteran pitchers.

Since Major League Baseball started the intense humidifying program at Coors Field, the balls have been seen landing on occasion, which is evidence that things aren't as bad as they were in the glory days of Rockies' baseball for pitchers. Furthermore, Morales drew eight groundouts and struck out four to make up 12 of his 16 putouts which is a good sign in a park such as his, or any for that matter at this, the most elite of baseball levels.

The main problem that could potentially obstruct Morales from being mentioned among the "sans-pareil" of the pitching realm is his control; or lack thereof.

Table: Franklin Morales' Minor League Statistics (2004-2007)

W	L	CG	IP	H	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
29	21	2	428	388	234	462	4.10	1.45

Morales struggled in his second start, which was his home debut. He allowed four runs on seven hits and five walks while striking out two in four innings. Morales had issues with walks in the minors as he gave up 58 walks in 112 2/3 innings this season.

Pitching with the Pacific Coast League Sky Sox, Morales' strikeouts to walks ratio sat near 1-to-1 immediately preceding his promotion. In fact, over his minor league career he has averaged nearly five walks per nine innings. These are numbers that hold us back from writing him into 2009 All-Star lineups.

Many were surprised to see the youngster get called up with these numbers and felt he was destined for another half season at least in Triple-A. Over a large sample, Morales has struggled finding the strike-zone. It seems he should be able to strikeout loads of hitters at any level, but he may hurt his wins, ERA and WHIP by issuing so many free passes.

The Rockies have a very solid offense that will stay together for a few years, and they definitely have the capability of bailing out a bad pitching performance every once in a while. If Morales can string together a couple decent starts he may cement himself into the rotation for good.

Overall, Morales has immediate value to clubs that need strikeouts. His command and his career minor league WHIP of 1.45 should scream to owners that he isn't very polished and should see some bad times to go with the good. If you can't afford to take the risk of losing ground in these other pivotal pitching categories then it would be wise to see how he performs in his next start or two before making a move. If it looks like he's hot, ride him as long as you need him.

Morales, whom wasn't originally on a lot of keeper league radars for the 2007 season, or really even 2008, seems to be a risk worth taking. His potential seems to be as weightless as the thin Rocky Mountain air.

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David Wysocki

David has been a KFFL writer since 2005. He is a San Diego native and a History and Geography student at California State University-Chico. He has a writing background and has appeared in, and helped produce, various local newsletters and magazines on sports and music. He also pitched for the No. 2 nationally ranked Rancho Buena Vista Longhorns his senior year of high school in 2002.

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