Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Logan Morrison and shortstop Brad Miller came to town in an offseason trade with the Seattle Mariners touted as impact bats that would upgrade a perpetually light-hitting offense.
Both are in their prime and were expected to immediately take over starting jobs.
Then the 2016 season began.
Miller and Morrison succeeded in cracking the starting lineup for Tampa Bay’s April 3 home opener against the Toronto Blue Jays – but that’s about it.
It took both players five starts before recording first hits as Rays. Morrison was 0-for-12 with five strikeouts and a walk before singling in the sixth inning at Baltimore on April 8. Miller was 0-for-16 with five whiffs and two walks until doubling in the eighth inning April 10 during the same road trip to Camden Yards.
And for as bad as Miller’s introduction to Rays fans was, Morrison’s was even worse.
Not only did it take the 28-year-old former Florida/Miami Marlin and Mariner until April 27 to finally crack .100 for the first time, his inability to drive in runs was extraordinary. Morrison didn’t register his first RBI until 37 games into the season.
That weight-off-the-shoulders moment came in Toronto during the second of an eight-game road stand, one that would see Morrison and Miller finally begin to turn their seasons around.
Since that first game against the Blue Jays on May 16, Morrison’s bat has been on fire. He’s batting .516 (16-for-31) over his past 10 games with a .583 on-base percentage while slugging three home runs, driving in 10 runs and scoring eight times.
Miller’s been nearly as impressive over that same span, posting a .384 average, .467 OBP, five RBIs, two doubles, two triples and three runs.
It’s going to take a little more time to get their season-long numbers up to respectable levels after those miserable starts, but Miller has his slash line up to .233/.306/.429 (batting average/OBP/slugging percentage) while Morrison sits at .226/.321/.322.
A silver lining for Rays fans, other than the two newcomers finally starting to pull their weight, is that Tampa Bay has still managed to play competitive baseball 45 games into the season. Thursday afternoon’s home loss to the Marlins was the Rays’ second in a row, dropped them to 21-24 overall and keeps them in the American League East cellar, but it could be a lot worse considering the first month’s atrociousness at the plate.
Eric Horchy is a staff writer with OutsidePitchMLB.com. You can follow and interact with him on Twitter: @EricHorchy
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