Mariners notebook: Logan Morrison listens, and it pays off

OAKLAND – Once again Logan Morrison is swinging a hot bat in September. After hitting .129 in July and seeing his playing time greatly reduced in August, Morrison has made the best of his opportunities of late going 6 for his last 12 with three home runs and 10 runs batted in.

Quite a turnaround, and it didn’t just happen. Morrison has made some changes at the plate, changes I had heard he was initially resistant to. After his pinch-hit home run last week in Houston, he admitted his stubbornness may have gotten in his way.

“Edgar’s been great for us,” he told me in his walkoff interview that day on the field about hitting coach Edgar Martinez. “Most importantly, just encouraging us. Shoot, I have a new swing. He’s been trying to get me to do this for like a month now. I guess I should have listened to him. He’s a future Hall of Famer hopefully, I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Better late than never. It struck me when I saw Morrison getting one-on-one instruction hitting on the field after early batting practice under the watch of Martinez two weeks ago in Seattle how lucky Morrison was to have that opportunity. He was no longer starting on a regular basis. The priority was seeing what Jesus Montero and Mark Trumbo could do yet here was Edgar Martinez taking time to put in extra work with him. If nothing else, LoMo was perhaps getting one of the best hitting lessons he could possibly get.

That day it turns out he was wasn’t working on anything specific, just trying to get the feel of bat-on-ball and driving the ball, but plenty of work had been going on in the cages. Changes were being made and Morrison was finally going with them.

“Just getting a little more rhythm, pumping my hands, trying to get my hands to work up and back at the correct time and seeing more consistent results that way,” he explained. “It’s more of a sequencing issue. My hands get back too early, they get stuck behind me. If they work up at the right time when my hips are going it puts everything in line and I am able to build speed behind me (and) hit the ball the other way. Drive it that way and also stay back on offspeed pitches.”

We saw that on his second home run in Houston, which went out to left. Morrison says the swing still doesn’t feel quite as good as it could, but for him it is always a work in progress. It is good to have help with the process.

“I am always looking to get better, do something with the swing and ask Edgar’s opinion on it,” he said. “He’s obviously got a lot of knowledge and encouraged me to try different things. He says it looks good but it depends on how it feels so that’s pretty much what we have been going with. Just being able to learn from him has been pretty cool.”

Lineup!

Ketel Marte, SS
Kyle Seager, 3B
Stephen Romero, RF
Robinson Cano, DH
Mark Trumbo, LF
Logan Morrison, 1B
Brad Miller, 2B
Jesus Sucre, C
Shawn O’Malley, CF

Hisashi Iwakuma, RHP

Notes

• Nelson Cruz hit in the cages this morning and said that he was scheduled to resume running Monday. Manager Lloyd McClendon said he could be available for pinch-hitting duties today.

• Franklin Gutierrez was getting in work on a stationary bike this morning but has yet to hit since being removed from Game 1 against the A’s with tightness in his groin. McClendon is hopeful he will be available at some point during the Rangers series.

• The Mariners are going for their first five-game winning streak of the season today. The last time they won five straight was Sept. 2-6, 2014.