Charlie Morton Reaches Milestone in Atlanta Braves win over Giants

Atlanta Braves pitcher Charlie Morton's career milestone embodies a story of perseverance.

Atlanta Braves pitcher Charlie Morton struck out his 2,000th batter in a win over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday, / Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta Braves pitcher Charlie Morton reached a career milestone during his Tuesday night outing against the San Francisco Giants. When he sat down Mike Yastrzemski on strikes for the first out in the sixth inning, he reached 2,000 career strikeouts. The Braves went on to win the game 4-3 in the 10th inning.

2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣.#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/RR3YBers8g

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 14, 2024

772 of his 2,000 career strikeouts came with the Braves. This includes his first MLB season back in 2008 along with his current stint that started in 2021. His 772 Braves strikeouts are more than he has had with any other team by over 200 strikeouts - he had 563 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

Morton is the 89th pitcher in MLB history to record 2,000 career strikeouts. He has the seventh most among active pitchers. Fellow member of the rotation Chris Sale is fourth among active pitchers. 

What’s outstanding about his achievement, is that at age 33, he had 630 career strikeouts. Talk about a renaissance late in a career. 

Let’s look at the difference between Morton’s career before and after age 33. He had struggled with injuries those first nine seasons and struggled to find consistency when healthy. Those two are arguably connected. 

In 162 appearances, 161 of those being starts, over his first nine seasons, Morton had a 4.54 ERA with a 1.44 WHIP and an 84 ERA+. He only recorded 100 innings in a season four times and reached 150 innings twice. 

Morton had Tommy John Surgery, shoulder fatigue, multiple hip surgeries, and multiple stints on the then-disabled list due to hip inflammation and hamstring injuries. He had no luck. 

Then, in 2017, everything changed. He stayed healthier and became a mainstay in the rotation. Since the start of the 2017 season, Morton has a 3.64 ERA with a 1.20 WHIP and a 117 ERA+. 

He went from having zero seasons where he made 30 starts to having five. He’s also had five seasons with 160 innings pitched or more - let alone barely reaching 150. 

Morton made the All-Star team at 34 and 35 years old, been a Cy Young Finalist and won two World Series rings. 

It’s been an unreal turnaround, and getting to reach 2,000 strikeouts is a testament to his ability to keep persevering. Other careers would have ended much sooner with similar obstacles.  

He’s not the first to pitch at 40 or reach these milestones. But how he got there is what makes it all the more remarkable.