Michael Morse

Michael Morse
San Francisco Giants
Outfielder / First baseman
Born: (1982-03-22) March 22, 1982 Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
May 31, 2005 for the Seattle Mariners
Career statistics (through 2013 season)
Batting average	.281
Home runs	83
Runs batted in	272
Teams
Seattle Mariners (2005–2008) Washington Nationals (2009–2012) Seattle Mariners (2013) Baltimore Orioles (2013)

Michael John Morse (born March 22, 1982) is an American professional baseball outfielder and first baseman for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Seattle Mariners, Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles.

Baseball career

Amateur career

Morse attended Nova High School in Davie, Florida.

Professional career

Morse was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the third round (82nd overall) of the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft.

Seattle Mariners

Morse was acquired by the Mariners along with Miguel Olivo and Jeremy Reed for Freddy Garcia and Ben Davis on June 27, 2004. Beginning the 2005 season with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers, he made his major league debut on May 31, 2005. Although Morse made it to the big leagues as a shortstop, with the arrival of Yuniesky Betancourt, Morse began to develop as a utility player, having spent time at first base and left field. In 2005, he was suspended for 10 days for using performance enhancing drugs.^[1]

On July 6, 2006, Morse had surgery to repair a torn medial meniscus of his right knee. In 2008, Morse had the best batting average in the major leagues in spring training, batting .492. After playing only 5 games in 2008, Morse suffered a torn labrum diving for a ball against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim; he had surgery to repair it and missed the rest of the season.^[2]

On April 1, 2009, Morse cleared waivers and was sent outright to the Mariners' AAA club, the Tacoma Rainiers.^[3]

Michael Morse playing for the Washington Nationals in 2011

Washington Nationals

In June 2009, the Mariners traded Morse to the Washington Nationals for outfielder Ryan Langerhans.^[4] Morse was promoted to the majors by the Nats on August 21, 2009, after hitting .322 with 16 homers and 86 RBI in 110 minor league games.^[5][6]

In 2010 with the Nationals, Morse played 98 games and batted .289 with a .352 on-base percentage and a .519 slugging percentage, with 15 home runs and 41 RBIs.^[5]

In 2011 spring training, Morse led the Grapefruit League with nine home runs with 18 RBI. He started the 2011 regular season in a left field platoon with Laynce Nix, but slumped on offense and was relegated mostly to pinch hitting by May.^[7] However, on May 22, 2011, Morse moved to first base when Adam LaRoche's season was ended by injury. In his first four games at first base, Morse hit three home runs with eight RBI. From May 22 to July 5, Morse had 13 home runs and 35 RBI, the most in the majors in that span of time,^[8] earning him consideration with four others for the National League's final roster spot in the 2011 All-Star Game.^[9] Morse was named to Sports Illustrated's "All-Underrated Team".^[7]

Morse finished the 2011 season with a .303 average, 31 home runs, and 95 RBI;^[10] he was in the top 10 in the National League in all three categories.^[11] He was fourth in the league in slugging percentage (.550), behind Ryan Braun, Matt Kemp, and Prince Fielder.^[12]

Morse started the 2012 season on the disabled list with a strained back muscle. He was activated on June 1, 2012 and made his season debut the next day.^[13]

On September 29, 2012, with the bases loaded, Morse hit a line drive to right field that bounced off the top of the fence. The ball was initially called in-play and Morse was tagged out trying to take second base. The play was eventually reviewed by the umpires, who ultimately overturned the call and pronounced Morse's line drive a grand slam home run. To ensure that none of the runners passed each other on the basepath, Morse was instructed to round the bases clockwise back toward the batter's box at home plate, take a mock swing at a nonexistent pitch, and then run counter-clockwise around the bases, like a usual home run. After the season, he was awarded with the Gibby Award for Oddity of the Year.^{[citation needed]}

Return to Seattle Mariners

Morse during his tenure with the Seattle Mariners in 2013

The Washington Nationals traded Morse to the Seattle Mariners on January 16, 2013 in a three team deal sending catcher John Jaso from Seattle to the Oakland Athletics and minor-league pitchers A. J. Cole, Blake Treinen and a player to be named later (Ian Krol) from Oakland to Washington.^[14] Morse was the Opening Day left fielder, but ended up getting most of the starts in right field until the end of May. Morse hit 8 home runs in spring training and 4 home runs in the first four games of the season. Also, in the first thirty games, Morse hit 9 home runs. He was the first Mariner to do that since Mike Cameron in 2002.^{[citation needed]} On May 28, Morse was starting in right field against the Padres, but left after 4 innings, tweaking his right quad while trying to score from first on a double.^[15] After the injury, which caused him to miss 8 games, he appeared more at designated hitter and first base while trying to limit his running. On June 22, Morse was placed on the disabled list with the injury, after he felt pain while pinch-hitting against the Angels two days prior.^[16] On July 29, Morse was activated off the disabled list, and he started in right field the next day. He was used mostly at right field until his trade. In 76 games with the Mariners, Morse hit .226/.283/.410 with 13 HR and 27 RBI

Baltimore Orioles

On August 30, 2013, the Mariners traded Morse to the Baltimore Orioles for Xavier Avery.^[17] During his debut on September 1, against the Yankees, he went 2-for-4 with 2 singles, a run scored and a strikeout. With Baltimore, he was used in either left or right field against left-handed starters. In 12 games with Baltimore, he batted .103 (3-for-29).

On October 16, Morse underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left wrist, and is expected to be back for spring training.^[18]

San Francisco Giants

Morse signed a one-year, $6 million contract with the San Francisco Giants for the 2014 season. He is expected to be San Francisco's everyday left fielder according to Giants' Manager Bruce Bochy.^[19][20][21]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michael Morse (baseball).

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)