Logan Morrison

Morrison during his tenure with the Miami Marlins

Logan Morrison (born August 25, 1987) also known as "LoMo", is a professional baseball outfielder and first baseman for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball. Entering the 2010 baseball season, Morrison was considered by Baseball America to be the #2 prospect in the Florida Marlins farm system, and the #20th overall prospect. He played in the 2010 MLB All-Star Futures Game in Anaheim, California. On July 27, 2010, he was called up to the Major Leagues by the Marlins, and made his debut that night. In 2012, Morrison was the Marlins' nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, an award that is given to a player who shows outstanding commitment to helping others both on and off the field.^[1]

Morrison is known for his witty, outspoken personality, particularly on the social media website Twitter, where he has a large following.

Early life and amateur career

Logan Morrison was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and moved around a lot with his Coast Guard father (Tom). He lived briefly in Wilmington, NC between the ages of 8 and 12 before returning to the midwest.^[2]

Morrison was drafted after his senior year (2005) from Northshore High School in Slidell, Louisiana by the Florida Marlins in the 22nd Round, but decided to attend Maple Woods (MO) Community College, and was signed as a draft-and-follow prior to the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft.^[3]

In his freshman year, Morrison batted .436 with 9 home runs, 45 RBIs. He led the Monarchs with a .532 OB%, .743 SLG% & 1.275 OPS with a 29-13 BB-K ratio. He made only 3 errors, good for a .977 fielding percentage.

Professional career

Florida/Miami Marlins

In 2007, Morrison batted .267 with 24 home runs, 86 RBIs, 71 runs scored, and 22 Doubles in 128 games played. He was named a South Atlantic League Mid-Season All-Star.

In 2008, Morrison batted .332 with 13 HR, 74 RBIs, and 38 doubles for the Class High A Jupiter Hammerheads. He led the entire Florida State League in batting average (.332), hits (162), doubles (38) & OB% (.402). His 241 total bases was good for 2nd best in the Florida State League. He finished 4th in the Florida State League in AB’s (488), 4th in OPS (.896), 5th in SLG% (.494), 6th in RBI (74), 7th in runs (71), 8th in HR (13) & 9th in BB (57). Morrison led the Jupiter Hammerheads in Games, AB’s, Runs, Batting Average, OB%, Triples, Walks, Total Bases, Doubles, OB%, OPS, and SLG%.

A broken bone in his right thumb limited Morrison to 79 games at Double-A in 2009, where he batted .277 with 8 HR, 47 RBIs, and 18 doubles.

In 2010, Morrison played for the Jupiter Hammerheads and New Orleans Zephyrs. On July 27, 2010, the Florida Marlins called up Morrison to replace the injured Chris Coghlan. He went 1-4 that night, recording his first major league hit in his debut.

On August 13, 2011, Morrison was optioned back to the New Orleans Zephyrs.^[4][5] Ten days later, he was called back up to the majors. In his first at-bat back, he hit a home run. On September 15, 2011, Morrison filed a grievance against the Marlins for what he termed was an unfair demotion to the minors.^[6]

On February 11, 2012, Morrison switched to uniform No. 5. The number had been retired for the entirety of the Marlins' existence, in honor of the late Carl Barger, the team's founding president and chief operating officer. (Barger's favorite player had been Joe DiMaggio, who also wore No. 5). Morrison requested the number in honor of his own late father, who had encouraged Morrison to model his career after Hall of Famer George Brett, who wore No. 5 for the Kansas City Royals.^[7]

On May 22, 2012, Morrison was moved to first base after the Marlins sent teammate Gaby Sánchez to Triple-A. Morrison was familiar with first base considering the fact he played that position before playing left field. On June 10, 2012, Morrison was moved back to left field after the Marlins called Sanchez back up. Morrison played 20 games at first, with a fielding percentage of .994 and only 1 error.

Seattle Mariners

On December 13, 2013, the Marlins traded Morrison to the Seattle Mariners for pitcher Carter Capps.^[8]

Personal life

Morrison's father battled lung cancer during Morrison's rookie season and died on December 8, 2010.^[9] Morrison pays tribute to his father with a Coast Guard salute to the skies every time he hits a home run.^[10] Morrison hosts an annual baseball camp in his father's honor with all proceeds benefiting the American Lung Association. Since the camp started in 2011, Morrison has raised over $300,000 for the American Lung Association.^[1] The third annual LoMo: Camp for a Cure took place on January 12–13, 2013.^[11]

Twitter

Morrison has an active Twitter account, with more than 124,000 followers as of February 2013.^[12] In addition to his many "inside baseball" tweets, Morrison writes about life on the road, his personal life, Miami weather, and many other topics, in addition to communicating directly with his readers. A big fan of the humor of Dave Chappelle,^[2] Morrison displays a similar irreverent, often R-rated, attitude on Twitter, which has caused concern in the Marlins front office.^[2] When Morrison was demoted to AAA New Orleans in 2011, some wondered whether the front office was sending Morrison a message to focus more on baseball and less on his Twitter account.^[13]

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Logan Morrison on Twitter