{"id":109051,"date":"2025-11-01T21:07:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T01:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=109051"},"modified":"2025-11-01T21:07:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T01:07:19","slug":"yankees-prospect-hueston-morrill-transitioning-full-time-pitcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/11\/01\/yankees-prospect-hueston-morrill-transitioning-full-time-pitcher\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees Prospect Transitioning Well from Two-Way Player to Full-Time Pitcher"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The New York Yankees are in their <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/10\/27\/whats-next-for-the-yankees-this-offseason\/\" target=\"_self\">offseason<\/a> phase of trying to patch holes and rework some of their roster for 2026. When looking at the pitching staff, prospect <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/yankees-hueston-morrill-s-pitching-journey-continues-in-afl\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hueston Morrill<\/a> may be of strong interest.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There was no question that the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/10\/31\/will-warren-key-yankees-rotation-2026\/\" target=\"_self\">Yankees&#8217; pitching staff<\/a> was somewhat vulnerable this year, more so in the postseason. In the regular season, the reliability from short relief to long relief and the closer role was minimal, and that even extended to the starting pitching in October.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We saw this in the American League Division Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, where a good lineup could not be contained. The Yankees need reinforcements in their bullpen moving forward, and potential internal options may be the way to go.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The baseball world is taking notice of Morrill in the minor leagues. His story has been interesting, and his performance has been gaining attention.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_109063\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-109063\" style=\"width: 799px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-109063\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/11\/USATSI_16166554_168400885_lowres-300x205.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"799\" height=\"546\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/11\/USATSI_16166554_168400885_lowres-300x205.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/11\/USATSI_16166554_168400885_lowres-1024x699.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/11\/USATSI_16166554_168400885_lowres-768x524.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/11\/USATSI_16166554_168400885_lowres-1536x1049.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/11\/USATSI_16166554_168400885_lowres.jpg 1752w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 799px) 100vw, 799px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-109063\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">May 28, 2021; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma State infielder Hueston Morrill (1) high fives Carson McCusker (12) after he hits a home run against West Virginia during the Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><strong>Yankees Prospect Hueston Morrill\u2019s Background Before Professional Baseball<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Morrill started his journey on both sides of the baseball. Like most kids growing up, he enjoyed hitting as well as pitching. He was a true two-way player in high school and continued that into college baseball.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His skill set showed projection on both ends, and scouts loved him as a two-way player. On the pitching end, Morrill\u2019s high school statistics at Suwannee High School showed 117 1\/3 innings, striking out 153 batters, and posting a 1.40 ERA.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He was drafted in 2018 by the Los Angeles Angels in the 36th round. However, Morrill chose to honor his commitment to Oklahoma State University. The two-way player competed in the Big 12 Conference for four seasons, only pitching in two of those.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the plate, Morrill slashed .256\/.375\/.380 in his four years in the NCAA. He had 122 hits, eight home runs, and 50 RBI total. After college baseball, Morrill did not hear his name in the 2022 MLB Draft. His focus with the bat potentially hindered his draft prospects with numbers that were not exactly extravagant.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Yankees then stepped in, seeing more of his skills than just a hitter. The team approached him after the draft and advised that they thought he\u2019d transition well to being a pitcher only.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Yankees?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Yankees<\/a> convinced former two-way player Hueston Morrill to give up playing shortstop and focus on reworking his repertoire on the mound.<\/p>\n<p>Now he&#8217;s developing into one of the most dominant relievers in the Fall League &#8212; and maybe all of the Minors: <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9Ta0PaNmlH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/9Ta0PaNmlH<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RPwGVZDq3T\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/RPwGVZDq3T<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLBPipeline\/status\/1981814086967967870?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 24, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Morrill is on the Rise as a Developing Reliever<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Morrill accepted the pinstripes as an undrafted free agent and went to work on the mound. He refined his repertoire, focusing on his metrics and developing his overall functions on the mound. Morrill throws hard, and some pitches he had in his pocket had strong potential.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Morrill worked on turning a slider into a cutter. His overall transition was a gradual one, trekking through the lower ends of the minor leagues. In 2024, he worked between Low-A and High-A, working 56 2\/3 innings. He finished the year with 58 strikeouts, 19 walks, and 21 earned runs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2025, from High-A to Double-A, the right-hander totaled 47 2\/3 innings with an 0.76 ERA and 0.94 RA\/9. He struck out 42 batters and walked 17. Hitters hit only .118 against Morrill.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The right-hander is now with the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League, where he\u2019s set to develop, showcase, and get a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/10\/15\/yankees-start-coaching-staff-reshuffle-after-october-exit\/\" target=\"_self\">head start<\/a> for 2026. Morrill is looking to jump the ranks and be a contributor in Triple-A, and possibly in the big show.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: David Reginek-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New York Yankees are in their offseason phase of trying to patch holes and rework some of their roster for 2026. When looking at the pitching staff, prospect Hueston Morrill may be of strong interest.\u00a0 There was no question that the Yankees&#8217; pitching staff was somewhat vulnerable this year, more so in the postseason. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5126,"featured_media":103032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,926,35],"tags":[29178],"class_list":["post-109051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-yankees","category-milb","category-news","tag-hueston-morrill"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109051"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109064,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109051\/revisions\/109064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}