Top 15 Hitters: #5 Ty Morrison

Ty Morrison
6'2" 170 lbs DOB: 7/22/1990
Outfielder
Bats: Left | Throws: Right
2010: Bowling Green
Acquired: 2008 Draft, 4th Round

Morrison got off a brutal start at Bowling Green, which is understandable for a teenager. He hit just .129/.156/.161 in the month of April, but rebounded to post a .718 OPS for the season, though he did tend to run hot and cold. He hit .293 in May, .297 in June, dipped back down to .195 in July, and then popped back up to .298 in August.

Morrison's best tool is his speed, which is arguably second best in the organization to Desmond Jennings. Morrison stole 58 bases, second best in the Midwest League, and hit for 13 triples, third best in the league. He was only caught stealing 10 times, which gave him a very impressive 85% success rate. Through the month of July, he was 38-for-41 on the basepaths. His speed also makes him a plus defender in center field, where he played 83 games (he combined for 40 games at the two corner spots). His arm is fine for center, and it's not a concern since he won't have to move off the position.

At the plate, he's still something of a project. He struck out 133 times on the season, which prevented his average from rising too much even as the rest of his game improved (he hit .250 on the nose for the season). His swing generates some power, but it's more of the gap variety than over-the-fence. He has a lot of room to add strength onto his frame, though, so it's not out of the question that he can hit 10-15 homers per year.

His plate discipline, a major contributor to his poor start, seemed to improve each month. He walked once in 19 April games, then five times in 28 games in May, eight times in 23 June games, twelve times in 26 July games, and fourteen times in 29 August games. His strikeout rate, however, held pretty steady at about a once-per-game rate.

Morrison has the tools to be an ideal centerfielder/leadoff hitter. He projects as a plus defender in the field, needing to just make the natural improvements to his reads and jumps as he moves up. He has more work to do at the plate, but showed signs of progress throughout the year. He'll need to continue to walk more in order to simply be on base more, where he can wreak havoc with the steal. Cutting down on the strikeouts will be important too, even if improving his average costs him some power. He'll roam the Charlotte outfield in 2011.