Terry Francona Explains Eli Morgan's Recent Struggles

Eli Morgan was one of the best relief pitchers in baseball earlier this season but has struggled in his last few outings.

A nightmare situation arose on Tuesday night in the ninth inning as Eli Morgan entered the game with a 5-0 lead. A lead-off hit and two consecutive walks led to a bases-loaded, no-outs jam with a pitcher on the mound who couldn't find the strike zone. 

Morgan has struggled since having a fantastic start to the season. Hitters are starting to stay back on his changeup which has been by far his best pitch in the past. The young pitcher is going through an adjustment period in the league and there is no reason to give up on him any time soon, and Francona seems to think so too. 

After the game, Tito said, "his fastball is kind of doing this (moves hand side to side) a little bit instead of this (moves his hand up and down)..." 

Here's what else he said:

If Morgan can work to tighten up his fastball command and combine it with his incredible changeup he may be able to get back to where he was in June. 

The one encouraging sign is that Francona mentioned that Morgan feels great so it doesn't appear that any injuries seem to be the cause of his struggles on the mound. 

Morgan isn't the only relief pitcher in the MLB that seems to have hit a rut as the season goes on. Yankees' All-Star closer Clay Holmes has an ERA of 9.00 in his last seven days and Josh Hader, who the Padres just acquired had a 12.54 ERA in the month of July. 

Working through these ruts and developing other pitches is what is going to make Eli an even better pitcher in the future. 

-----

Read More:

It's Not Taking Long For Oscar Gonzalez To Heat Back Up For The Guardians

Shane Bieber Shuts Down Tigers In Guardians Win

Amed Rosario Is Doing A Little Bit Of Everything For The Guardians

The Guardians Are The Only Team In The American League Central That Have Done This

George Valera Gets Big Promotion, Bo Naylor Joins Top 100 Prospects

-----

Be sure to stay locked into Cleveland Baseball Insider all the time!

SUBSCRIBE to the CBI YouTube channel
Follow Cleveland Baseball Insider on Twitter: @CBIonSI