Since his 2017 comeback with Houston, Charlie Morton has gone 80-39, with a 3.54 ERA and 1159 strikeouts. Before then, for the record, he was 46-71 with a 4.54 ERA and 630 strikeouts. The fact that Morton could get into such a stride starting with his age-33 season is, while not unheard of, one of the most impressive achievements of this era of baseball.
And it's incredible because this type of production can't exactly be compared to other pitchers who returned to form in their mid-30s. Obviously for some of these examples, I think of people like Jamie Moyer, Bartolo Colon and Rich Hill, but all three of those guys are more novelties than statistically impressive pitchers a lot of the time. Some of Moyer's early-00s years were pretty incredible, but even then he wasn't exactly fanning flames or striking out 200 batters per year. He just pitched 33 games a year and outlasted the competition. Morton at 39 is still in his prime, with 128 Ks and a 3.62 ERA, plus 10 wins, through 21 starts.
In fact, the pitcher I would compare Morton to the most is honestly Dennis Martinez. Like Morton, Martinez was serviceable in early years, but not indispensable, and like Morton, Martinez had a low point directly before joining the team with which he'd have the most statistical success. I think the main difference is that Morton has become more of a strikeout guy than Martinez did, but Martinez did court 150 Ks a few years in the late 80s and early 90s. And just for reference, Martinez's age-39 year, in 1993, he went 15-9 with 138 Ks and a 3.85 ERA. Not too dissimilar honestly, even if Morton will obviously surpass Martinez's K total in a week or so.
But this also reflects the evolution of the 30-something veteran pitcher. Back in the 90s or 00s, you could have somebody sticking around with their velocity diminished, just fooling you with placement and strategy. This is how Frank Tanana lasted til the early 90s, and how Moyer lasted til 2012. Now, when everyone is expected to throw hard, the younger guys cook themselves too early while the older guys, who adopted this discipline after a good 5 or 10 years of stats had already elapsed, are better at conserving their arm strength because they haven't always had to throw this hard. Hence Morton building up to this his entire career and still being in peak condition less than a year from his 40th birthday.
Morton has been as reliable as ever in a Braves year that has relied on the health of him, Bryce Elder and Spencer Strider above all else. It's less dire now that Max Fried is back, but having only three really good starting options might have been the Braves' one weak spot for a bit. Fried has jumped right back into his former glory, and the rotation has been solid in the last stretch, despite Elder getting killed recently. To have a guy like Morton as your rock even as young guys like Fried, Strider and Wright do arguably more exciting things on the mound is a good luxury to have, and he's been a fantastic piece this year in what could possibly be his last year in Atlanta [although I don't see the Braves cutting him after this year].
Morton won a ring with Houston, made a World Series with Tampa, won a World Series with Atlanta, and it looks like he wants to go for three rings. With this team he's got a shot.
Coming Tonight: I saw him play during Spring Training. I said 'that's nice and all, but I don't know what role he has to play with this team.' Then the team became awful.
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