Washington Nationals Spring Training 2011: Michael Morse Tearing It Up

Washington Nationals’ OF Michael Morse was scratched from the lineup on Tuesday because of an illness. And if the Nationals don’t name Morse their starting left fielder soon, I am going to be ill.

Morse is in a competition for the Nationals’ starting left field job with ham n’ eggers Rick Ankiel and Roger Bernadina. The reality is, there hasn’t been much competition this spring. Morse is grabbing the left field bull by the horns and other areas as well.

Morse is hitting .429/.436/.914 with five HRs and two doubles in 35 at-bats this spring. That .914 mark is Morse’s slugging percentage this spring, which is absolutely ridiculous.

Morse is an interesting story because he was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the third round of the 2000 Draft and never showed much power during his minor league career. The most HRs he ever hit in a minor league season was 17 back in 2004 in Double-A for both the White Sox and later the Seattle Mariners.

However, maybe Morse is a late bloomer. He is 28 now, and he hit 16 HRs in Triple-A in 2009 and last year, in a stint with the Nationals, he hit 15 HRs in 98 games.

Once Morse officially wins the left field job for the Nationals, there’s a good possibility he could hit 20-25 HRs, and if he hits behind Ryan Zimmerman, he could see plenty of opportunities in 2011.

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