Shawn Morimando

Position: LHP
Born: 11/20/1992
Height: 6'0
Weight: 200
B/T: L/L
Acquired: Drafted in the 19th round of the 2011 MLB First-Year Player Draft (CLE).

Most Recent Stats at Time of Debut
CURRENT SEASON STATS: 10-3 with a 3.09 ERA in 16 starts at Akron (Double-A), striking out 73 while walking 36 and allowing 77 hits in 93.1 IP.

Info & MLB Debut Date
Recalled from Akron July 2 when INF Michael Martinez was designated for assignment.
MLB Debut Date: 7/2/2016

Debut Details
July 2, in a 9-6 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. The third of five pitchers on the night, he allowed two runs, both earned, on six hits over 3.2 IP of work, walking one and striking out four while allowing one home run, the lone hit of which did any damage. Out of 75 pitches, 40 were for strikes. Coming on to start the third inning, Morimando got the first big-league batter he faced, Josh Donaldson, to pop out to third base. After then surrendering back-to-back singles to Edwin Encarnacion and Michael Saunders, he got out of the jam with fly outs from Russell Martin and Troy Tulowitzki. The fourth inning was quite similar, with Kevin Pillar making the first out on a soft fly ball before Darwin Barney and Ezequiel Carrera delivered back-to-back singles. This time, though, Morimando struck out the next two batters — Devon Travis swinging and Donaldson looking. The Indians scored their only runs off of Morimando in the fifth inning with two outs when Martin reached on an infield single (which many argue should have been called an error, but that part will only make a difference for our purposes here if Morimando winds up in a tight race for the ERA title at season’s end) before Tulowitzki blasted a two-run homer. Reliever Dan Otero came on for Morimando with two outs in the sixth to end his stint, and he was sent down the next day to make room for more fresh arms.

Player Notes
The debut of Morimando may have gotten a bit lost in the shuffle as it (a) came on the heels of the Indians’ 13th win in a row the night before which (b) took 19 innings and featured five innings from Saturday’s scheduled starter Trevor Bauer which (c) forced the Indians to summon Morimando for what was unofficially billed as a “bullpen game,” since it featured a pair of relievers, Zach McAllister and Jeff Manship tossing the first two innings, and (d) featured Indians outfielder Rajai Davis hitting for the cycle in the loss. Oh, and (e) it also marked the end of the team’s 14-game winning streak. That said, Morimando’s outing was one of the hidden highlights of the night for the Tribe. Coming off of a 2015 season at Akron where he went 10-12 with a 3.18 ERA in 28 starts, striking out 128 and walking 65 in 158.2 IP, while allowing 139 hits, he mixes a fastball in the low 90s with a curveball, changeup and slider, and he brought a combined career 3.38 ERA in 124 minor league games into his debut. He’s been a workhorse on the mound with 130-plus innings in each of his last three full-season campaigns and tied for the Eastern League lead in starts in ’15. The native of Virginia Beach is just the second graduate of Ocean Lakes High School to pitch in the big leagues, the first one being former first-round pick Bill Bray. Pitcher Mike Ballard also reached the big leagues when he was called up by the Baltimore Orioles in 2011 but never got into an MLB game and, since, 2013, has been fashioning a fine career on the mound in the CPBL in Taiwan.