Padres Left-Hander Used Small Mechanical Tweak to Re-Establish His Value

Maren Angus-Coombs | May 12, 2024

Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

There is renewed hope for the biggest signing class for the San Diego Padres that agreed to terms between July 2016 and June 2017.

San Diego invested $80 million in international prospects during that time and has only yielded a handful of valuable trade pieces. Overall, the draft class was a total bust.

However, Adrian Morejon would like a word. He cost the Padres roughly $22 million between his bonus and overage taxes but he is displaying career-high velocity and a new sweeper in his role as a multi-inning reliever.

Padres RP Adrian Morejon continued his impressive 24’ season tonight v. CHI.

In 13 IP in 2024, he’s posted a:

➡️2.08 ERA
➡️0.74 FIP & 1.32 xFIP
➡️36.8% K% & 48% K% v. LHH

He’s been SD’s best bullpen arm outside of Robert Suárez. pic.twitter.com/LLfqwK8IUf

— Clark Fahrenthold (@CFahrenthold11) May 8, 2024

The 25-year-old spent some time with pitching coach Ruben Niebla who recommended a lower arm slot for the pitcher after a few biomechanical assessments in San Diego’s pitching lab and the change is working. 

“That last month of the (2023) season when I had injuries, I think that’s when Ruben first noticed some of the things that we’ve been working on, and this offseason we really started to put the work in,” Morejon said through team interpreter Danny Sanchez.

“Now that I feel good physically, it’s really been an easy adjustment with the new arm slot.”

Since being recalled from Triple-A El Paso on April 12, Morejon has thrown more innings (13) than he gave the Padres all of last season (nine). He has struck out 21 and walked one. 

He hasn’t officially established himself as a mainstay in the San Diego bullpen, but if he keeps this up then he is well on his way.