Wednesday, February 18, 2009

"Let’s be realistic."

David O'Brien
February 18th, 2009
1:30 pm
...

Anyway, Charlie Morton is coming up in just a second. He’s late because he was the last pitcher to do the bunting drill they did today, and now they’re scanning his face, i guess for the video board, but I’m not sure what actually. He’ll be up in 5-10 minutes.
I sure would like to scan Charlie's face! ha ha!

cvbraves
February 18th, 2009
1:12 pm

Charlie, last year you mentioned needing to improve your confidence level. How are you doing with this?

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Charlie Morton
February 18th, 2009
1:45 pm

cvbraves: I think it’s [confidence] is something you improve on naturally, due to your experiences. In the offseason, it allowed me to reflect on a lot of things, and I feel a lot more comfortable than I did last year. I didn’t realize until I saw an interview of myself, and I realized, there’s only so much room for that [lack of confidence] when you’re trying to perform against some of the best in the world. There’s a reason why the best players in the world are successful, and confidence has a lot to do with it.
Charlie Morton
February 18th, 2009
1:51 pm

Joe: I grew up coming to spring training here and to Yankees camp. I just remember sitting down there trying to get Chipper’s autograph and Smoltzy’s autograph. Those expeirences allowed me to take a lot of pride that I’m wearing a Braves uniform and that I came up through the organization and was drafted by the Braves.

Playing for Bobby Cox is an honor, an experience of a lifetime. He’s one of the best managers, if not the best manager of all time.

As for my goals, some of that depend on where I start. Of course, the goals I would set would be for the big leagues, some are just goals for myself, just improving on the good things that happened last year and learning from the bad things, trying to build and develop as a player and as a person in the clubhouse.
Charlie Morton
February 18th, 2009
1:55 pm

Erik, as for fitting into the rotation if Glavine is the fifth starter, I might be fitting into the Gwinnett rotation pretty well…. I mean, it is what it is. If the Braves think that there’s a better option, they should go with the better option. Let’s be realistic.

When I’m healthy, I think my strength is my four-seam fastball, just pitching off the fastball allows you to open up the zone for your other pitches, as opposed to trying to rely on your two-seam changeup, which I was last year, which is not at all my pitching style. That wasn’t at all what I was doing in Triple-A or the Fall League, wasn’t the style. But when you don’t have your best stuff, you still have to be able to compete, to learn how to pitch without it. You’ve got to be able to compete without your best stuff.

Last year I feel like physically, I lacked the control in my scapula, and there was a little pain and discomfort. I don’t feel like my stuff was as good. But again, it’s not an excuse. You’ve got to learn to pitch without your best stuff.
Charlie Morton
February 18th, 2009
1:58 pm

JM: I’d say my mindset is, prepare for the season, and know that at any given time they might need me to pitch. I don’t put emphasis on the impression I’m leaving on Bobby when I’m on the field. I don’t think about that kind of thing. If I do what I’m supposed to do, then all the peripheral things should take care of themselves. Obviously that’s what I would want the result of my performance to be, that he’d take that into account. But my goal is to be ready for the start of the season, wherever I go.
Charlie Morton
February 18th, 2009
2:01 pm

Bravito199: I think the weight thing has to do with knowing your body, and when you’re in a long season it gets difficult to maintain a certain program and stick to it. It’s easy to come out of spring training gung-ho and ready to go. Your body is rested. And yet, I do realize some changes need to be made to my program, and I’ve talked to our strength and conditioning guys. i think it contributed to my performance. it is another aspect of the game, the length of the season, that I need to adapt to.

I gained close to 15 pounds and I feel stronger. The biggest thing was the stability of my scapula. I can feel the difference, for sure. I did a lot of rehabbing up in Pennsylvania with a therapist who used to work with the Phillies.
Dwight Schrute
February 18th, 2009
1:59 pm

What was your mile time?

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Charlie Morton
February 18th, 2009
2:03 pm

Dwight: A half-hour.
HA! <3
Charlie Morton
February 18th, 2009
2:06 pm

Prime Time: I think for me, personally, off the field examples have helped me a lot more, are more instrumental to me, than things on the field. In the bullpen, Smoltz has worked with me, Glav worked with me … I’ve worked with some pretty notable pitching coaches … I think that type of coaching is going to be there. Some of the actual players are better at it than others. But I think the off-the-field, how they carry themselves off the field, is a better example of learning.

Smoltzy, Glav, they handle themselves very well. Chipper. All those guys. That’s why I have a lot of respect for that group, for all those guys in that clubhouse.
Charlie Morton
February 18th, 2009
2:10 pm

Josh: When I have my stuff, when the ball’s coming out good, I’m a power pitcher. And there were times last year when I can see someone would evaluate the games I pitch, the style I pitched, and say I was trying to locate or spot-up or finesse. But that’s not my style of pitching. When I feel good and I’m healthy, I feel like I’ve got a good enough fastball to be a power pitcher. I’m normally just a fastball/curveball, and last year I got away from that a little bit in the big leagues.

I just started throwing a two-seam in games in May, and that developed into my go-to pitch. Which, in retrospect, is not what led me to success, that’s not what I was doing before. I was a two-seam/changeup guy last year, especially toward the end of the year. That’s not me.


Back to DOB's regular report...
David O'Brien
February 18th, 2009
2:43 pm

By the way, Huddy threw off the mound today, second time he’s done it since camp opened. Impressive, threw about 20 easy fastballs. He’s only 6-1/2 months into rehab, so he’s a bit ahead of schedule. Bobby said they could have him for at least five starts at the end of the season, which would be a big addition if they’re in a pennant race (I know, “if being operative word)
David O'Brien
February 18th, 2009
2:45 pm

Flange1, actually saw quite a bit of ‘ball today, first day for whole squad to take BP and all. Chipper was hitting some absolute moon shots onto the left-field berm, of course that was off Chino. “I own Chino and Hubby,” he said, laughing. “I’ve got away to go against D-Lowe and Jurrjens.”

He faced Lowe and Campillo today, and Chipper said even Campillo was blowing it by him. “At 88 [mph]?” I asked. “If that,” he replied.
David O'Brien
February 18th, 2009
2:50 pm

MinnesotaJacket: It’s immediately apparent how much McCann’s slimmed down. Not skinny, by any stretch, and not ripped (he’s just not built like that). But he’s just in what appears to be a good weight for him, moving well, looks good in the cage, and really seems excited about this team (but to be honest with you, every player I talk to seems excited, the mood having changed quite a bit in that week after the Smoltz departure, when it went from doldrums to upbeat with the additions of Lowe and Kawakami to go with the earlier trade for Vazquez.)
David O'Brien
February 18th, 2009
3:45 pm

Almost forgot to mention: Chipper and the Braves have made some progress toward a multi-year extension. He said a deal isn’t imminent, still work to be done, but he sounded encouraged by the talks they’ve had so far.

3 comments:

Lizziebeth said...

Ok, is there some sort of horrendous "it is what it is" epidemic running through this country?? HATE the phrase; hear it three times an hour at work.
C-Mo, stop it, you're waaaay too cute to use it!

The Sports Idiot said...

I love the phrase "it is what it is", personally, and have been using it for years upon years. I could get upset with the recent uptick in its usage, but I'll refer back to the phrase itself to make my point.

Couldn't you find any quotes from Charlie?

Nice work you are doing over here, keep it up!

Lauren T. said...

Proof I watch too much TV -- on the reunion show for first season of 'Top Chef', they had a montage of clips of all the chefs saying, "it is what it is" over and over. While the statement is true, I agree that it's too overused these days. (And Top Chef is the first thing I thought of when I saw Charlie say "it is what it is"!)