Charlie Morton gets bristly with insinuation that age led to poor outing

Instead of running for President of the United States of America, Atlanta Braves right-hander Charlie Morton would rather throw cut fastballs right over the middle of the plate. The ageless Morton is already in his 40s. While he has gotten better with age, his 2024 MLB season with Atlanta has been every bit up and down. He has not been as consistent as the other members of the Atlanta rotation.

The Braves fell to the San Francisco Giants on Thursday evening 4-2 in large part to two home runs that Morton gave up. Of course, if you score three or more runs on Atlanta pitching, you end up winning the game because the Braves offense this year is throwing up on an airplane bag. You may have a doggy bag to catch the chunks, but that stuff is going to stink for the duration of the flight.

For the most part, pitching has not been the problem for the Braves; it has been the putrid state of its underperforming offense. Although Max Fried, Reynaldo Lopez and Chris Sale have all had much better seasons in the Atlanta rotation than Morton, he does his best to give the Braves one quality start at a time every fifth day. Sometimes, you leave one over the plate, or two in Morton's case...

Here is Morton clapping back at a local beat reporter for questioning his outing because of his age.

Morton will turn 41 years old in November after what will be his fourth season back with the Braves.

Charlie Morton will not let reporter try to blame his rough outing on age

For the most part, I would say that Braves Country has loved watching Chuck shove every fifth day since joining the team in 2021. He was originally drafted out of high school by the Braves, debuting in Atlanta in 2008. He was traded over to Pittsburgh early in his career before ultimately reinventing himself with a heavy curveball arsenal with the Houston Astros in 2017. It was then Morton flourished.

Since going to Houston, Morton has been a vibrant part of every rotation he has been in. From the Astros, to the Tampa Bay Rays, now back with Atlanta. He may be a year-to-year proposition as a big leaguer, but he has not been a major issue at all for this team. I still remember him literally breaking his leg for this team to help beat his former team in Houston to help Atlanta win the 2021 World Series.

At some point, Morton will call it a career and hang up the spikes. It could be after this season. He might pitch one or two more with the Braves. It really comes down to if he thinks he can still compete with the very best ballplayers in the game today. Morton is a fiery competitor on the mound, which has led to him pitching tremendously well into his 40s. Thursday night was rough, but he'll be alright.

Many pitchers continue to shine well into their 40s, so why should we throw Morton under the bus?