Hunter Morris Traded to the Pirates

The Milwaukee Brewers announced that they have traded first baseman Hunter Morris to the Pittsburgh Pirates for an unspecified player.  The former 4th round pick in the 2010 MLB draft seemed to be the odd man out after Yovani Gallardo got traded to the Texas Rangers, as he was removed from the 40 man roster at that point.

Morris was once regarded as the Brewers starting first baseman of the future after he was named the MVP of the Southern League at Huntsville, in 2012.  Being named the Brewers #4 prospect by Baseball America that year, Morris put up .303/.357/.563 numbers for that season.

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After failing to impress in 2013 or 2014, Morris spent both seasons at the AAA level.  Because of this, Brewers fans had to suffer with Juan Francisco, Yuniesky Betancourt, and Alex Gonzalez filling in as the first baseman during the 2013 season and Lyle Overbay and Mark Reynolds last season.

During his MVP campaign of 2012, Morris finished the season with 28 home runs and 113 RBI and a whopping 40 doubles, very deserving of the award.  In the two seasons at AAA, combined, Morris hit 35 home runs while driving in only 115 runners.  His splits also dropped to .260/.315/.453, all drastically dropping from that 2012 season.

When the Brewers made the move to acquire Adam Lind and Luis Jimenez this offseason, and with guys like Matt Clark and Jason Rogers increasing their value as first baseman, Morris became expendable.

Sometimes things like this work out the best for both parties involved and all Morris needed was a change of scenery, for some reason.  I can’t say that I will root for him as he went from being a Brewer to a Brewer rival as a Pittsburgh Pirate, but I hope he can figure it out so that he can return to being the productive player that he was during the outstanding season that he posted in 2012.