Over the last year, Brian Morrell (Shoreham-Wading River ’17) has done just about everything right and for that reason, he has put himself firmly on the radar of every local MLB scout.
Today he threw a bullpen and took swings under the watchful eye of some local scouts and he performed very well.
He was sitting in the low 90s with his heater, threw it consistently in the bottom third of the strike zone and he displayed his devastating spike-curveball. Most importantly, he didn’t appear to be fazed by the attention one bit.
The scouts came away very impressed with what they saw.
He also ripped line drives while using a wood bat during his batting practice.
That is a positive sign, since the scrutiny will only increase as the bright lights turn on.
The past year has been filled with nothing but success for the senior right-handed pitcher.
He became the third Shoreham-Wading River athlete to win the prestigious Carl Yastrzemski Award after he went 5-1 with a 1.13 ERA and 93 Ks over 49 IP. He also batted .405 while leading Long Island with 12 HRs and 28 RBI. He scored 30 runs and compiled 30 hits.
This summer, he participated in the Area Code games and led all pitchers with a 94.8 MPH fastball.
The interest is turning up on him.
His parents stated that the house visits have begun from the MLB scouts. There’s been 13 already, and there are more planned in the near future. These scouts understand that Morrell has a strong commitment to the University of Notre Dame, which was a childhood dream for him.
It remains to be seen how it plays out, but it is clear that we have a Marcus Stroman situation, where he won the Yaz Award as a junior, has a strong commitment to a college and is a two-way player. There’s a couple things at play.
