Let's Be Realistic With Jovani Morán

[Cody Pirkl]

Jovani Morán has had a rough start to the season that came to a head Tuesday night in Boston when he entered in the 10th inning and turned a two-run lead into a loss. Should we expect more from him moving forward?

Image courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

Jovani Moran has been far from the pitcher he showed he could be in 2022. Granted, he mostly saw low leverage, but his 2.21 ERA across 40+ innings was enough for the Twins to pencil him into a bullpen role in 2023. Despite his rough start, there are reasons to continue to hope for more from the left-handed reliever.

Morán’s biggest flaw has been control throughout his entire career. He’s rarely been able to put up walk rates under 10% but has ascended to the MLB level because of the rest of his skills. Morán is a unicorn, as his out pitch is a wicked changeup that has helped stave off traditional platoon splits against right-handed hitters. He’s managed eye-popping strikeout rates at every level and has avoided the longball to an impressive degree.

Morán’s walk rate has increased from 11% in 2022 to 14% in 2023. It’s a fine line to walk, but a familiar one for Morán thus far in his career. Unlike past seasons, the rest of his skills haven’t been up to snuff to bail him out.

The strikeout rate has been acceptable at 25.6%, but it's a far cry from the near 33% mark from 2022. More importantly, Morán has already allowed two homers in seven innings pitched so far. He’s never allowed even one home run per nine innings pitched in his career across a full season. Can we hope for a bounce back?

It’s worth noting that Morán’s ugly outing on Tuesday could have gone a lot differently had his strikeout to begin the inning not resulted in the hitter reaching first base. He did walk a batter, but allowed three hits, none of which surpassed an 80.6 mph exit velocity. It was the weirdest game the Twins have played all season, and Morán was on the tough end of plenty of said weirdness in the 10th. Most of his ERA indicators aren’t great, but they all show some bad luck regarding his 7.27 ERA, and his xERA weighing the quality of contact he’s allowed is only 3.45.

The walks aren’t going away, but some of the poorly hit balls should start finding gloves. It's also fair to wonder whether Morán has a stretch of avoiding the long ball in him after showing such a strong aversion throughout the minors and into his big league career. Morán may not be perfect, but he should be better.

In regards to Morán’s role, I think we all know that he’ll likely never be the first to get the call in situations like Tuesday. The Twins were out of their traditional high-leverage relievers and didn’t want to turn to rookie Brent Headrick or open the door for another Emilio Pagán disaster. It was an unfortunate situation with a poor result, but Morán was scheduled for a return to low leverage regardless of the outcome. 

Jovani Morán should be better moving forward. The walks may keep him from moving too far up the bullpen hierarchy, but the strikeouts and aversion to homers should make him a perfectly usable MLB reliever. The Twins also don’t exactly have another reliever beating down the door in Triple-A. As frustrating as the loss was, he’s still a 25-year-old with team control through 2029. It’s very possible we look back on Tuesday’s nightmare outing as having little bearing on the pitcher he is. It’s not time to give up on Jovani Morán.

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[GKuehl]

It often seems like he's not particularly focused on the mound. This would explain his control issues. During his outing on Tuesday, Vazquez at one point made a very demonstrative gesture indicating that Moran needed to lock in and focus on throwing strikes. 

[stringer bell]

Bullpen depth is not something the Twins invested in. The in-house options from the minors have not “lit it up” so maybe we have to be patient with a guy with Morgan’s talents. 
 

The back end looks good, perhaps dominating. The Twins need better from Alcalá, Moran and Pagán. 

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

I hope his demotion provides incentive to work on his control issues.

Jovani Moran is still on the Twins roster. He will be fine. Of far greater concern .... the bats.

[D.C Twins]

Moran go to and stay in AAA until he proves consistent control. Without demonstrating control, MLB batters will not be compelled to chase his changeup

[JD-TWINS]

Moran is what he is…….gonna walk guys to start potential rallys & strike guys out to get out of them. Hopefully, his change-up is sharp enough to get 3 outs at a time w/o much damage. Same kind of description for the bottom 4 guys in most MLB bullpens. Just hope he sharpens his nerve & focus to not let walks bury him.

I like what I see below in a post - a thought I expressed as a possible idea after he got punched at beginning of spring training - Balazovic as another Griffin Jax type of guy out of the Pen. Looks like we are grooming him now for potential mid-summer help. He’s basically taking Megill’s spot as another hard throwing right hander - good luck Jordan!

[Blyleven2011]

19 hours ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

I hope his demotion provides incentive to work on his control issues.  I'm not sure if he just has bad control or if he is a nibbler who does not quite trust his stuff.

All three of those twins pitchers in Boston were nibbling off the plate because they don't trust their stuff ,,,

Pagan , Acala and Moran ...

[joefish]

Hope. Hope. Hope. 

That's what we have.

[Larry Janisewski]

22 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Jovani Moran is still on the Twins roster. He will be fine. Of far greater concern .... the bats.

And Pagan!

[Aerodeliria]

Demoting Gordon is needed. You lose nothing with Julien except perhaps some of the glove skills (but not that much) and you gain a much more patient hitter. Gordon is flailing. He needs playing time.

[ashbury]

2 hours ago, Aerodeliria said:

Demoting Gordon is needed.

How do you propose to do that?  He has 0 minor league options remaining.

[Aerodeliria]

35 minutes ago, ashbury said:

How do you propose to do that?  He has 0 minor league options remaining.

DFA? I know it's harsh and I love Gordon's hustle but I dunno, he's just an automatic out. 

[Squirrel]

7 hours ago, Aerodeliria said:

DFA? I know it's harsh and I love Gordon's hustle but I dunno, he's just an automatic out. 

Okay. So, you are okay with another team claiming him and we let him go for nothing? And why are we talking about Gordon in a thread on Jovani Moran? I don’t understand this segue

[Aerodeliria]

4 hours ago, Squirrel said:

Okay. So, you are okay with another team claiming him and we let him go for nothing? And why are we talking about Gordon in a thread on Jovani Moran? I don’t understand this segue

Good question. Maybe I was woozy...it was 2:00 am here, so that's my excuse. (But since you asked, I'm OK with letting him go. Some folks may think there is a higher ceiling on Gordon, but I have strong doubts. He's an impatient hitter and what we need from him is just the opposite.)