DETROIT – It’s been a long ride for Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Charlie Morton, from riding the buses in the minor leagues for six seasons before getting a taste of the Major Leagues, to winning two World Series championships.
Along the way, he’s gone up to the Majors and back down to the minors no fewer than 12 times, rehab assignments included, been a free agent four times and been traded three times, most recently this past July 31 when he came to Detroit from the Baltimore Orioles at the trade deadline. In Detroit, Morton was reunited with his former manager, A.J. Hinch, with whom he won the World Series with the Houston Astros in 2017.
“I wish things had gone better in Baltimore for me. I wish we had done better as a team. Especially for that early part of the year, that first month, a month and a half, that’s a moment in my career that you don’t want to happen. But it’s part of it. It’s part of still growing, still learning, even though I’m here in my 20-something years in professional baseball,” Morton, 41, told to World Baseball Network before the Tigers’ game against the New York Mets at Comerica Park on September 2.
Interview with Tigers SP Charlie Morton on the ups and downs of his career.
He also talked about what makes Juan Soto, Tarik Skubal, and Gerrit Cole elite.
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— World Baseball Network (@WorldBaseball_) September 3, 2025
His first 10 starts with the Orioles saw his ERA balloon to 8.82, but since then, he has pitched 96 1/3 innings with a 4.41 ERA. On the season, Morton has pitched 132 1/3 innings with 140 strikeouts and an ERA of 5.51.
Morton is no stranger to adversity, and he’s pretty much had everything thrown his way.
“To come here with A.J., to be familiar and close with him, to know what kind of man he is, what kind of manager he is, and how he’s handled me ever since I met him. So all in all, I’m just really thankful,” Morton added.
Morton, a righty, was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in 2002 in the third round of the MLB draft out of Joe Barlow High School in Redding, Conn. He made his Major League Baseball debut in 2008. He has racked up 2,187 strikeouts in the regular season, with 2,258 innings, and an ERA of 4.10 in 18 seasons.
“When I first got called up, I was just trying to last in MLB for a week at a time, just trying to survive each start and not get sent back down,” Morton said. “I just wanted to try and last for a month, and it was tough because I was in the minor leagues for six years and back and forth between MLB for three seasons after that.”
Morton was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates during the 2009 season, and he made his debut with them in 2010. In 2011, things finally clicked for Morton, and he made 29 MLB starts for the Pirates, 11 more than his previous career high two years earlier.
Following the 2015 season, he was traded again, across Pennsylvania to the Philadelphia Phillies. His Phillies tenure was short-lived due to a hamstring injury in April 2016 that limited him to just four games, and he elected free agency that November.
He then signed a two-year deal with the Houston Astros, and this stint was one of the most successful of his career, winning a World Series in 2017 and being named an All-Star for the first time in his career in 2018.
“Being on those Astros teams in 2017 and 2018 was really special to me, a really special part of my career. But I think it’s the people that make it special,” Morton said.
After his time with the Astros, he signed with the Tampa Rays and was an All-Star in 2019, then helped them to the World Series in 2020, which they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
A free agent again following the Covid-19 Pandemic shortened season, Morton returned to Atlanta in 2021, and pitched there for four more seasons, winning his second World Series championship in his first season by beating his former team, the Astros.
“I’ve gotten the chance to be on some really good teams. I’ve gotten the chance to go to the playoffs pretty much every single year except for one, going back to 2013. The outcomes have been different every single year, but it’s really the groups that make it special,” Morton added.
“I’ve been on three World Series teams. I’ve been on multiple playoff teams with multiple organizations. Each group is a little bit different—even the same team, different group.”
Morton is a guy who appreciates the journey, and he loves to have his character and that of his teammates tested. He also realizes that the triumphs might not have been possible if he hadn’t had the rough patches that helped him mature as a person and a pitcher.
“To go through a full season with a team and then wind up in the playoffs, you go through spring training, you go through the grind together, and then you get to finally see what you can do in the postseason,” Morton added. “The journey is really the best part about it. The outcome—whether you lose in the Wild Card, lose in the Division Series, or go all the way to the World Series and play to Game 7—they’re all a little bit different, they’re special in their own way.”
Morton is now in the starting rotation with one of the best arms in MLB, the reigning Cy Young Award-winning left-handed pitcher, Tarik Skubal, who is making a strong case to win the award again in 2025.
Along the way, Morton has pitched with Chris Sale in Atlanta and watched him win the Cy Young in 2024. He pitched with Gerrit Cole in Houston and Pittsburgh, Blake Snell in Tampa Bay, and Justin Verlander in Houston — some of baseball’s best arms of the last two decades.
They’re different, he said.
“They don’t think like I did in the minors, about trying to survive,” Morton said. “They’re thinking about how they are going to reach 200 innings and win Cy Young Awards.”
Asked if Skubal is one of the best arm he’s ever seen, Morton said he’s willing to put Skubal up there with any his prior teammates. Skubal has 216 strikeouts, which is second in the American League, and his ERA of 2.18 is the lowest; only Paul Skenes has a lower ERA at 2.05 in the National League. Skubal’s 173 innings pitched are third in MLB this season.
“There are just certain guys when they take the mound, it’s different. Especially when you see the interaction between the pitcher and the hitter, there are just certain guys that are different. I don’t think you want to put those expectations on anybody, but every time he takes the mound, you expect him to dominate,” Morton said.
Skubal is putting together another incredible season, and he has been the anchor in Detroit’s unstable rotation that has seen Jackson Jobe and Reese Olson go down for the season with injuries.
“Skubal’s the same. It just seems like the fight and the challenge are against yourself. How can I be better? How can I push myself on the mound or in the weight room? How can I push myself mentally to be more than I am today for tomorrow? He’s no different,” Morton said. “It’s been really cool getting to know him. He’s a good dude. I like rooting for good people. For sure, for the past month it’s been pretty cool to watch him.”
He’ll now have another chance to pitch deep into October, this time with Skubal. The Tigers have a nine-game lead in the American League Central Division, and have the possibility of getting a first-round bye in the postseason.
Morton is the type of guy who saves his best for October, where he has 92 strikeouts in 80 innings with an ERA of 3.60 in his career.
At 41 years old, he’s nearing the finish line, but he is still enjoying every part of the ride.
Photo: Charlie Morton throws against the New York Mets in the first inning during a baseball game Monday, Sept. 1, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
