Logan Morrison is one of the more entertaining twitter users in baseball, but the guy can play too (you can follow him @LoMoMarlins by the way).
Much like Heyward, Morrison is another rookie who handles the strike zone like a veteran hitter. In Double-A and Triple-A, Morrison posted a 111:81 strikeout-to-walk ratio, which bodes well for his batting average. He showed that he could bring that plate discipline to the Majors with his 14.3 BB%, which ranked17th among hitters with at least 280 plate appearances.
The one knock on Morrison is his lack of power…err home runs. If you look at his ISO, Morrison’s power has been the same almost his entire career although his home run totals haven’t been quite as consistent. However, if Morrison can’t bring double-digit power he won’t (and shouldn’t) be regarded as a fantasy player worth starting in most leagues.
But there’s some hope that the home runs will come.
In 287 PA, Morrison only managed two home runs, but he hit 20 doubles, which puts him on pace to be among the league leaders in the category. As Morrison gets more comfortable hitting against the best pitchers in the country, he will learn to loft the ball a bit more and bring double-digit power. He hit fly balls just 32 percent of the time last year while hitting line drives 19.7 percent of the time so you know he makes good contact on the ball.
Morrison is a big guy, who stands at 6-foot-3, 245 pounds so he definitely doesn’t lack the size to develop some power.
Fantasy owners, in keeper leagues especially, should probably thank Morrison for the low home run total as it will definitely lower his value on draft day. Morrison has shown that he can handle himself at the plate and has passed every test thrown his way. Get while the gettin’ is good.
He should bat near the top of the Marlins order, which should help him score close to 85 runs.
2011 Fantasy Projection
86 R | .287 AVG | 12 HR | 63 RBI | 4 SB
