Brandon Morrow

Brandon John Morrow (born July 26, 1984) is an American former professional baseball pitcher.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs.

Morrow attended Rancho Cotate High School in Rohnert Park, California.

As a senior, he was 9–2 with a 0.61 ERA and had 84 strikeouts in 63 innings.

He earned first-team all-league, first-team All-Redwood Empire, first-team All-North Coast Section and second-team all-state honors, and competed for the California All-Stars at the 2002 Sunbelt Classic in McAlester, Oklahoma.

He was selected by the Anaheim Angels in the 40th round, 1200th overall, in the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft.

However, he did not sign with the Angels and decided to attend college at UC Berkeley.

He majored in American studies.

Morrow attended the University of California.

He appeared in 19 games for the Golden Bears with five starts in his freshman year, going 1–3 with a 6.07 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 30 innings.

He picked up the win in relief versus the University of California Los Angeles on April 25 going one inning, surrendering one hit, and striking out two.

Morrow had three strikeouts in two innings against Brigham Young University on January 30.

As a sophomore Morrow made ten appearances with five starts, going 0–1 with a 9.36 ERA and one save.

He had 25 strikeouts in 25 innings.

He earned his lone save on March 19 against the University of Hawaii at Hilo with three strikeouts in two innings.

He threw a career-high five innings with a career-high six strikeouts against Loyola Marymount University on February 13.

Morrow was named first-team All-Pac-10 his junior year, going 7–4 with a 2.05 ERA, second in Pac-10.

He had 97 strikeouts, fourth in Pac-10.

He held opponents to a .211 average good enough for third in Pac-10.

Morrow was named National Pitcher of the Week after pitching seven innings, no hits, no runs, one walk and a career-high 12 strikeouts against University of California, Irvine.

Morrow played collegiate summer baseball for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod Baseball League in 2004 and 2005, and was named a league all-star in 2005, striking out 24 batters in 15 innings with a 1.84 ERA and three saves.

He was named a third-team preseason All-American and the fifth-best professional prospect out of the Cape Cod League by Baseball America.

In his first professional season in 2006 he split time between Arizona League Mariners appearing in seven games and Single-A Inland Empire 66ers appearing in one game of the California League.

He posted an 0–2 record overall with a 2.25 ERA in 16 innings striking out 17 batters and starting five games.

He pitched three hitless innings for Inland Empire during his brief time there.

Morrow was invited to spring training in.

He went 0–1 with a 1.08 ERA in 6 relief appearances and made the major league club despite being considered a long-shot to make the club at the start of spring.

Morrow made his Major League debut on April 3 against the Oakland Athletics, pitching one scoreless inning.

Morrow went 3–4, with a 4.12 ERA in 60 appearances striking out 66 batters and walking 50.

He held opposing hitters to a .243 batting average, including .221 against right-handed batters.

He set a club rookie record with 18 holds, breaking old record of 13 set by Ed Vande Berg in.

Morrow had the fourth most appearances by a rookie reliever in club history with 60 and fifth most strikeouts with 66.

Among American League rookie relievers Morrow ranked second in strikeouts, third in appearances and fourth in ERA.

On April 23, he earned his first major league win against the Texas Rangers, allowing one hit in career-high three and one third innings pitched.

He recorded 18 and two thirds consecutive scoreless innings from April 20 to June 8.

During the streak he went 2–0 while holding opposing batters to a .103 average.

He also recorded another scoreless streak of 17 innings pitched over 15 outings from July 17 to August 24.

Morrow held opponents scoreless in 44 of 60 outings.

After missing two weeks of spring training in 2008 due to a sore shoulder, Morrow was optioned to the Mariners minor league affiliate Double-A West Tennessee on March 30.

Morrow was recalled to the Seattle bullpen 17 days afterwards when Mariners starter Érik Bédard was placed on the 15-day disabled list.