By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor
Recently acquired veteran 1B/OF Logan Morrison wasted no time to prove he still is MLB-ready, making his debut in the Philadelphia Phillies organization Tuesday evening with Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
On his first pitch seen, with a runner on first and nobody out in the second, Morrison drilled a two-run home run to dead center. "LoMo" started the game at first base, batting fifth.
Logan Morrison’s first hit with the IronPigs is a two-run bomb to center to give Lehigh Valley a 2-0 lead pic.twitter.com/1B0T3EUknu
— Mitch Rupert (@Mitch_Rupert) July 16, 2019
The Phillies signed the nine-year veteran on Saturday to a minor-league pact. Morrison, 31, requested his release from the New York Yankees earlier this month because he did not have a path to return to the majors. With the Phillies, there is more of an opportunity to log MLB outfield innings, not only because of the injured Andrew McCutchen and the disciplined Odubel Herrera, but also because of the recently injured Jay Bruce.
Bruce left Tuesday's game against the Dodgers with a strained right oblique, suffered when swinging opposite the Dodgers' Walker Buehler in the bottom of the third inning. Roman Quinn replaced Bruce, who has also recently been sidelined due to "mild soreness" in both his Achilles tendons
While Nick Williams may receive the call-up to replace Bruce if he is injured list-bound, Morrison could also receive equal consideration, especially since his bat is hot given his two-run blast during his IronPigs debut. Williams, meanwhile, entered Tuesday hitting .355 with a 1.084 OPS in 103 plate appearances since his demotion.
Over 959 career MLB games combined with the Florida/Miami Marlins (2010-13), Mariners (2014-15), Tampa Bay Rays (2016-17) and Minnesota Twins (2018), Morrison slashed .239/.325/.427 with 161 doubles, 21 triples, 137 home runs, 421 RBI, 387 walks and 722 strikeouts.