Guardians' Cody Morris: Ready for rehab assignment
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Morris (lat) is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment Wednesday with Double-A Akron, Joe Noga of The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
Morris, who has been on the shelf since early in the spring with a right teres major muscle strain, looks ready to advance to the final phase of his throwing program after he spent the last several weeks building up at extended spring training in Arizona. Expect the right-hander to handle a limited pitch count Wednesday and gradually increase his workload over multiple outings in the high minors before the Guardians bring him back from the 60-day injured list. Because rookies Logan Allen and Tanner Bibee have delivered quality results since entering the big-league rotation and with both Triston McKenzie (shoulder) and Aaron Civale (oblique) being further along in their respective rehab programs, Morris likely won't have a spot in the rotation waiting for him once activated. The Guardians could still view Morris as a useful multi-inning option out of the bullpen if they don't want to have him make regular starts at Triple-A Columbus once his rehab assignment ends.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Begins mound work
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Guardians manager Terry Francona said April 4 that Morris (shoulder) has resumed throwing off a mound, MLB.com reports.
While it's encouraging that Morris is making his way through a throwing progression again after he was shut down for most of spring training with a right teres major strain, the Guardians are expected to bring him along slowly after shoulder trouble previously cost him large chunks of the 2021 and 2022 campaigns. Despite Morris' health concerns, he's still expected to be built up as a starter, so he could be a name to keep an eye on once he reaches the point in his recovery program that he's making minor-league rehab starts and is eligible to return from the 60-day injured list in late May. The Guardians' current back-end rotation options are Zach Plesac and Hunter Gaddis, and when healthy, Morris could be viewed as an upgrade if he fares well during his rehab outings.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Placed on 60-day IL
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The Guardians placed Morris on the 60-day injured list with a right teres major strain.
The move rules Morris out though at least late May. He's been sidelined since February and doesn't seem to have started a throwing program yet.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Dealing with lat discomfort
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Morris will be brought along slowly this spring due to lat discomfort, Zack Meisel of The Athletic reports.
Moving slowly is certainly preferable to being shut down, but it's not an ideal start to camp for the 26-year-old righty. After posting a 2.28 ERA (albeit with a much less promising 4.33 FIP) in seven outings as a rookie last season, Morris appeared to have the chance to at least contend for a rotation spot in camp. The odds of that happening could quickly evaporate if the lat issue is significant enough to prevent him from getting stretched out before Opening Day, but he'll still have a good chance of pushing for starts down the road as long as the injury isn't too serious.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Available in ALDS
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The Guardians are including Morris on their ALDS roster versus the Yankees, Zack Meisel of The Athletic reports.
Morris will presumably be used for long relief and/or mop-up duties in the ALDS after being left off the wild card roster. The righty had a 2.28 ERA, 1.39 WHIP and 23:12 K:BB in 23.2 innings this season.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Not on wild-card roster
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Morris wasn't included on the Guardians' roster for the AL Wild Card Series against the Rays, which begins Friday, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports.
The 25-year-old was one of the odd men out with the roster shrinking from 28 to 26 players for the postseason. Morris made seven appearances (five starts) in his first taste of the majors this year and pitched well with a 2.28 ERA, 1.39 WHIP and 23:12 K:BB over 23.2 innings, so he should be in the mix for a roster spot if Cleveland advances to the next round.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Moves to bullpen
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Manager Terry Francona said Wednesday that Morris will move into a relief role, Chris Assenheimer of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram reports.
With Zach Plesac (hand) due to return from the 15-day injured list Friday, Morris will lose his spot in the Cleveland rotation. Over his first five big-league starts, Morris turned in a 2.18 ERA, 1.45 WHIP and 20:11 K:BB across 20.2 innings.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Possible waiver wire pickups
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Morris actually made the cut for my sleeper pitchers in Week 26, so I like him more than his 13 percent roster rate would suggest. It's strange the way the Guardians have introduced him to the majors, having him build up there after losing most of the minor-league season to a shoulder strain, but now he's gone five innings in back-to-back starts. He's clearly stretched out enough to factor in Fantasy, in other words, particularly with favorable matchups against the Rays and Royals on tap. Though his outings have been short so far, Morris' 13.4 percent swinging-strike rate would rank 10th among qualifiers, and it's worth pointing out he had a 1.64 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 14.4 K/9 in the minors the past two years.
The Guardians made the curious decision to have Morris' introduction to the majors basically serve as a rehab assignment for a shoulder strain, but it's gone well so far, even seeing him stretch out to five-plus innings in his past two starts. The Rays and Royals make for some inviting matchups to close out the year, especially given Morris' wide availability.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Earns first career win
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Morris (1-2) picked up the first win of his young major-league career Friday against the Rangers, giving up two runs (one earned) in five innings while striking out five and allowing two walks and four hits.
The Rangers scored twice in the bottom of the second inning on a Kevin Plawecki single and a Myles Straw throwing error. Three batters reached base in that inning, but Morris didn't allow more than a single baserunner in any of his other four frames. The Guardians were losing when he completed the bottom of the fifth but scored six runs in the top of the next frame while Morris was still the pitcher of record. The outing brought Morris' ERA down to 2.18 through his first five starts. He tentatively lines up to face the Rays and Royals (both at home) to end the regular season.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Strong outing in loss
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Morris (0-2) took the loss Sunday against Minnesota, allowing a run on six hits and a walk while striking out six in six innings.
Morris had the best and longest outing of his big-league career Sunday, allowing just a solo homer and retiring 11 in a row at one point. The 25-year-old had not tossed more than four innings in any of his three previous starts. Control issues had been a cause for concern in his first three appearances, as he walked eight batters in 9.2 innings, but he walked only one batter and threw 63 of his 81 pitches for strikes against Minnesota. His next start will likely be next weekend in Texas.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Issues five walks Tuesday
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Morris allowed one run on two hits and five walks while striking out four over 3.2 innings in a no-decision versus the Angels on Tuesday.
Morris stretched out to 75 pitches (41 strikes) in this outing, though his command is still lacking. He gave up the Angels' lone run of the game, a Matt Thaiss solo shot in the third inning. Through 9.2 innings, Morris has shown some promise with a 2.79 ERA, but his 9:8 K:BB suggests he's gotten fairly lucky through his first three major-league starts. The right-hander should only face a small workload restriction in his next outing, which is projected for this weekend versus the Twins, but he'll need to get more efficient at finding the strike zone.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Effective over four innings
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Morris allowed three hits and a walk while striking out two over four scoreless innings in a no-decision versus the Royals.
The Guardians were expected to have more of a bullpen game, but Morris was able to throw 61 pitches (36 strikes) in a decent second career outing. It was an improvement over his debut, in which he allowed three runs (two earned) over two innings to the Mariners. Morris may not approach a full starter's workload as the Guardians tread carefully with the high-end prospect, but the right-hander should continue to see regular work with Zach Plesac (hand) and Aaron Civale (forearm) out. Morris lines up for a home outing versus the Angels next week, though it's unclear if he'll be able to build up his pitch count enough to realistically have a chance to qualify for a potential win.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Starting in bullpen game
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Morris will start Wednesday's game against the Royals in what's expected to be a bullpen day for the Guardians, Paul Hoynes of The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
In his return from the 60-day injured list Sept. 2 in what also marked his MLB debut, Morris struck out three and allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and two walks over two innings to take a loss against the Mariners. Though the Guardians plan on developing Morris as a traditional starter, he looks like he may deployed as a glorified opener while the Guardians are missing two members of the rotation in Zach Plesac (hand) and Aaron Civale (forearm). Due to the expanded September roster, the Guardians have two stretched-out relievers in Kirk McCarty and Konnor Pilkington who are capable of covering multiple innings behind Morris. As such, Morris likely won't be asked to work deep into his starts and may struggle to qualify for wins.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Handed loss in debut
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Morris (0-1) allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and two walks over two innings Friday, striking out three and taking a loss against Seattle.
Morris made a start in place of Zach Plesac (hand) for his MLB debut Friday. It wasn't a very clean outing but he showed some signs of the talent that makes him one of Cleveland's top pitching prospects. The 25-year-old forced six whiffs in 54 pitches while his fastball touched the upper-90s. He also coughed up three extra-base hits however, including Cal Raleigh's solo shot. Morris is currently lined up for a start in Kansas City next week but he doesn't appear to be stretched out enough for a full workload yet.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Starting in place of Plesac
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Morris is starting Friday's game against the Mariners, Zack Meisel of The Athletic reports.
Despite already being 25 and coming with some durability concerns, Morris is one of the most exciting pitching prospects in the game. He boasts several plus pitches and logged a 1.69 ERA, 0.70 WHIP and 39 strikeouts in 21.1 innings across nine rehab appearances after missing most of the season with a shoulder injury. He has yet to throw more than 3.1 innings in any outing this season after missing most of the first half with shoulder issues, however, so he may not be able to provide much length in Friday's start.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Returns from IL
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Morris (shoulder) was activated from the 60-day injured list Thursday, Mandy Bell of MLB.com reports.
Morris was shut down with a strain of the teres major muscle in his right shoulder in late March and has been on the shelf all season, but he's now poised to make his make his MLB debut with Cleveland. The 25-year-old pitched well during his six rehab games with Triple-A Columbus with a 2.35 ERA, 0.73 WHIP and 30:6 K:BB over 15.1 innings. The right-hander is being developed as a starter but is likely to work as a multi-inning reliever in his first taste of the big leagues.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Likely to be September call-up
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Morris (shoulder) joined the Guardians' taxi squad Wednesday and is expected to be activated from the 60-day injured list Thursday, Mandy Bell of MLB.com reports.
Morris has resided on Cleveland's 60-day injured list all season after suffering a right shoulder strain in spring training, but he's been healthy for quite some time. After resuming game action in the rookie-level Arizona Complex League in mid-July, Morris shifted his rehab assignment to Triple-A Columbus earlier this month. The 25-year-old right-hander is being developed as a starter, but he'll likely work as a multi-inning arm out of the Cleveland bullpen in September after recording no more than 10 outs in any of his six rehab outings with Columbus. He's been dominant across his 15.1 innings at Triple-A, allowing only 11 baserunners while striking out a whopping 30 batters.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Dominating at Triple-A
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Morris built up to 61 pitches in his most recent start for Triple-A Columbus and now has a 2.92 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and 24:5 K:BB in 12.1 innings at that level.
Fortunately, the talented righty's season wasn't completely lost due to the shoulder injury he suffered in spring training. He still resides on the Guardians' 60-day injured list, and is now seemingly one rehab start away from being ready to help the big-league rotation. It's also possible the Guardians would break Morris in as a long reliever if they elect to keep him in the majors once he's reinstated from the IL.
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Guardians' Cody Morris: Transferred to 60-day IL
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Morris (shoulder) was placed on the 60-day injured list Friday, Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal reports.
It was announced earlier in the week that Morris' injury would cost him at least 4-to-6 weeks, but Cleveland decided to place him on the 60-day IL to open up a spot on the 40-man roster for Bryan Shaw.
