18-year MLB veteran and former Pittsburgh Pirate Charlie Morton appeared in what is expected to be his final outing as a Major Leaguer against his former club. The Atlanta Braves beat the Pirates 4-1 on Sunday with Morton pitching one last inning where he started his big league career and getting a strikeout from his signature curve.
Morton was drafted by Atlanta in the third round of the 2002 MLB Draft, and made his debut with the club in 2008. He was traded to the Pirates in 2009, where he spent the majority of the first half of his career in the majors.
Though Morton would go on to be a capable pitcher in several team’s rotations, his time in Pittsburgh was at times marred with inconsistent play and injury setbacks. 2011 was his first strong showing with the club, finishing with a 10-10 record, a 3.83 ERA, and 110 strikeouts. That season he would earn the club’s Breakout Player of the Year award.
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He would go onto to have several more strong seasons in Pittsburgh, gathering two more campaigns with a .500 or better record, and had 126 strikeouts in 2014. Morton was traded to Philadelphia at the end of the 2015 season.
He would enjoy some of the best success of his career as a member of the Houston Astros where he won his first World Series title in 2017. In 2018 he was named to his first All-Star team, with a record of 15-3, 201 strikeouts, and a 3.13 ERA. He would follow that season up with an even better 2019 where with the Tampa Bay Rays he had 240 strikeouts and finished third in NL Cy Young voting.
2021 saw Horton rejoin the Atlanta Braves in free-agency, and helped lead them to the team’s first World Series title since 1995. Horton was signed by the Braves on September 22nd following his release by the Detroit Tigers, and wanting to end his career with the Braves.
“The hope for me was to just kind of try to let (the feeling) of disappointment and failure go and finish the year in a way that was a little bit more comforting with that taste in my mouth,” Morton said.
Morton has not declared officially if 2025 will be his last season, but said it is likely. If it is then it finished with a storybook ending, striking out a member of his former club on the team where his career started. Morton has a career record of 147-134, a career 4.13 ERA, and 2195 strikeouts.
