Houston Astros: Credit winning atmosphere for Charlie Morton’s season

Houston Astros pitcher Charlie Morton is having a career year with the American League’s best team. An important reason for the success is Houston’s winning atmosphere.

One of the stranger acquisitions during the last offseason was the decision by the Houston Astros to sign pitcher Charlie Morton. The veteran starter only made four starts in 2016 for the Philadelphia Phillies. Injuries limited him to only 17.1 innings all year long. A weaker pitcher may have called it quits and moved on to the next phase in his life. Some sort of fire in Morton made him want to return and the Astros awarded him with a two-year contract.

It wasn’t so much signing Morton that was peculiar. His resume certainly suggested a big league job was mandatory. It’s the fact that the Astros, a team in need of a top pitcher with a better track record, agreed to the deal.

In his previous nine seasons, Morton only reached double-digit victories once. He accomplished this in 2011 when he went 10-10 for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In each year prior and since, Morton fell short of this goal largely due to injuries.

The 2017 season will once again mark yet another year with Morton failing to make 30 starts. Even though he has pitched well, his body let him down.

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Health issues aside, Morton’s 2017 statistics are admirable. Most of all, it’s the strikeout totals which leap out the most. For his career, Morton is averaging 6.8 K/9. This year, it’s at a remarkably high 10.1 K/9. Blame the joy of hitting a home run and the acceptance of striking out all you want. A lot of the credit goes to Morton.

It’s also important to note that Morton is pitching for a winning team for the first time in a long time. During many of his seasons in Pittsburgh, the Pirates were a non-playoff team. He did make one postseason start in 2013 but earned the loss despite pitching well in the NLDS versus the St. Louis Cardinals.

Morton isn’t the only Astros player performing well above career averages. At 29, fellow pitcher Brad Peacock suddenly broke out as a top-of-the-rotation arm. Outfielder Josh Reddick seems to also enjoy the talent around him, as does Marwin Gonzalez.

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Winning is contagious in Houston this year. Morton is one of the culprits helping the spread. Normal pitchers don’t suddenly find their stuff at 33. Battling against logic, Morton did.

When the Astros signed him to a two-year deal worth $14 million, Houston took a major risk. Months later, Morton is a steal.