DETROIT TIGERS ACQUIRE RHP CHARLIE MORTON FROM ORIOLES
The Detroit Tigers have acquired right-handed pitcher Charlie Morton from the Baltimore Orioles for minor league left-handed pitcher Micah Ashman.
Morton is a veteran of 18 major league seasons, which has included participation in seven postseasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2013, the Houston Astros in 2017 (World Series champion) and 2018, the Tampa Bay Rays in 2019 and 2020 (World Series appearance), and Atlanta Braves in 2021 (World Series champion) and 2022. During those postseasons, he has combined to go 7-5 with a 3.60 ERA (32 ER/80.0 IP) in 18 playoff appearances, 17 coming as a starter.
A two-time All-Star, one with Houston (in 2018) and the other with Tampa Bay (in 2019), Morton has posted a career 145-131 record and 4.08 ERA (1,009 ER/2,227.0 IP) across 406 major league outings, 399 as a starter, with six major league clubs starting with his big league debut with the Braves in 2008. He joined the Pirates in 2009 and, after seven years, moved to Philadelphia for one season in 2016 before joining Houston for two years from 2017-18. In 2019, his first of two seasons in Tampa Bay, he finished third in A.L. Cy Young Award voting when he went 16-6 with a 3.05 ERA (66 ER/194.2 IP) in 33 starts, averaging a career-best 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings. Morton returned to Atlanta for four seasons from 2021-24 before spending the 2025 campaign with Baltimore until his trade today.
Morton has shown great durability throughout his career, reaching 30 starts and exceeding 160.0 innings in each of his last six seasons (not including 2020). He ranks fourth among active pitchers with 2,227.0 innings, fourth with 399 games started, sixth with 2,148 strikeouts and is ninth-lowest with an average of only 0.88 homers allowed per nine innings.
Morton, 41, has gone 7-1 with a 3.88 ERA (26 ER/60.1 IP) in his last 11 starts beginning May 26, striking out an average of 9.1 batters per nine innings pitched, and allowed three runs or less in nine of his 11 outings. Overall this season, he has gone 7-8 with a 5.42 ERA (61 ER/101.1 IP) in 23 appearances (17 starts) this year.
Ashman, who turns 23 next month, has combined to go 4-3 with four saves and a 2.55 ERA in 30 appearances between Single-A West Michigan and Double-A Erie this season. He was originally selected by the Tigers in the 11th round of the 2024 Draft.
