Morton heads into new season with new perspective

After a rough 2010 season in the majors with the Pirates, Charlie Morton decided to pitch in the winter leagues in the Dominican to work on some of his struggles.

What he didn’t realize he would learn was a different perspective.

“Meeting people down there really helped me appreciate what I have here,” Morton said. “I would leave the park and a kid would come up to me and ask me for water or food. I’m like, ‘Serious?’ It’s tough.”

“I think I have seen enough of the world to have appreciated that and know that I don’t have it that tough,” Morton said. “But going down there where the people don’t really have much and driving by fields where you see 15 kids with one baseball on something that doesn’t even look like a baseball field, it’s like, ‘Wow.’

“There were times when I wish I had stayed longer. But at the same time, it was such a long year.”

Morton will be battling for the fifth spot in the rotation during spring training and is ready to rebound from last season. After a month of resting his arm, Morton has started throwing in December.

“I’m ready to get on the mound against hitters and see where I am,” Morton said. “I’m just going to go out and pitch and do what I can do.”