Franklin Morales, LOOGY

It's funny how a bad outings (or a streak of them) can affect people's perception of a player. Case in point, is Franklin Morales who had a breakout season in a relief role. He pitched well enough that when Huston Street was injured, he took over the closer role. He recorded saves in his first 6 opportunities, then began to struggle. His struggles, highlighted by a 5 run, 7th inning in Los Angeles left many fans feeling that he should have been left off the roster. There was one good reason he made it: he had been very tough against left handed batters. With Philly's lineup of left handed, the move to include Morales, only made sense.

The move paid off, with Franklin pitching 2 and 1/3 perfect innings in the first three games of the series. All of that good work was quickly forgotten, however, thanks to his 3 walk (1 intentional) performance in game 4. Of course he did do one very important thing that inning - get Ryan Howard out. Many fans were again ready to show Morales the door, but I say hold on.

First off, I am never one to judge a player based on one stretch. It's much more telling to look at the player's body of work. One thing that pops out about Morales' career is how good he has been against lefty batters. I feel the Rockies should keep him since he has a great chance to be an outstanding left handed one out guy (a LOOGY).

Over his 3 year career, Morales has given up an AVG/SLG/OBP of .185/.276/.277 vs left handers (.175/.247/.275 in 2009). His numbers vs. righties are .274/.373/.396 in his career and .277/.366./405 in 2009. While facing righties he has clearly been hittable, although they have not hit him for much power. Against lefties he has been flat out dominant. That kind of arm is not easily replaced.

One of the big criticisms of Morales has been his tendency to walk too many batters. This is certainly justified, since has was walked 12.4% of the batters he has faced in his career. Interestingly, his splits again tell a deeper story. While walking 13.3% of right handed batters, Morales has walked only 9.2% of lefties, a more acceptable rate.

Hopefully the Rockies can take a close look at his effectiveness vs left handers and keep him around. More importantly, I hope they know to use him vs lefty bats and limit his work vs righties. After all, a misused reliever can do as much damage as a bad one.