August 21, 2020

By Denis Gibbons

Canadian Baseball Network

In an era when scouts tend to rely on their radar gun more than their personal observations, Evan Morrison is a prospect who could be overlooked.

The 17-year-old right-hander from Mitchell, Ont., does not have an overpowering fastball, topping out at 84 mph, but demonstrates a remarkable grasp of the art of pitching for his age. He has excellent control and occasionally quick-pitches to keep hitters off balance.

“He’s just a professional in the way he goes about his business,” said Chris Robinson, former Canadian national team catcher and director of baseball operations for the Dorchester, Ont.-based Great Lakes organization. “He has everything under control. You can’t really teach presence. Even at the age of 14, you knew he was going to figure it out.”

Morrison shut out the Burlington-based Fieldhouse Pirates for 13 consecutive innings recently, beating them 2-0 on Aug. 8 and 4-0 on Aug. 15 in Canadian Premier Baseball League action.

He held the Pirates to just three hits while striking out 12 batters before being replaced because of a high pitch count after six innings in the first game. Zach Stylianou picked up the save.

Morrison beat the highly touted Carter Krawchuk of St. Catharines, Ont., who already has committed to Purdue University.

In his second whitewash of the Fieldhouse crew, he hurled a four-hitter, fanning only one batter this time but receiving superb fielding support from his mates.

Morrison did not walk a batter in either game.

Great Lakes pitching coach Shane Davis, who set several school records as a southpaw at Canisius College and played briefly in the Blue Jays minor league system, taught Evan how to throw a changeup. He also has a fastball and curve.

“If I had to pick one pitcher I copied as a kid, it was Marcus Stroman,” Morrison said. “I love how competitive he is. He doesn’t overpower people, but he outpitches them.”

Robinson said Morrison led all Great Lakes organizations pitchers, at any level, with 71 strikeouts in 74 innings pitched in 2019. He also hit .398 in 44 games last season and struck out only 6.8 per cent of the time

According to statistics provided by Baseball Almanac, there isn’t an active Major League player with a percentage that good.

Morrison sometimes plays shortstop when he’s not pitching. In 2019, opponents were shocked to hear the public address announcer say, “Leading off for Great Lakes, the pitcher – Evan Morrison!”

When he’s not on the mound this season, Morrison alternates as leadoff man at the plate with centre fielder Adam Leatherland, who is from Simcoe, Ont.

Morrison already has won CPBL championships in the Under-14 category with coach Brad McElroy in 2017 and in the Under-15 group with coach Brendan Saville in 2019.

He also won an OBA Bantam C championship with the Mitchell Astros in 2018 and plays for Stratford District High School, although he does not pitch there.

Up until the 2019-20 season, Morrison also played hockey in the Mitchell Meteors organization, named after the ‘Mitchell Meteor’ Howie Morenz, one of the greatest players of all time.

“Last year was the first I didn’t play hockey,” he said. “We’ll have a fall baseball schedule and then work out indoors over the winter. My goal is to get a scholarship and play college baseball in the U.S.”

Morrison is a great student with a 4.0 GPA currently and is looking to go to a good engineering school in electrical or mechatronic engineering.

His father James is an assistant coach with the Ontario Nationals Under-15 team, where Evan’s younger brother Justin is a pitcher and centre fielder.