Brandon Morrow takes step toward starting

TACOMA — The grand transformation of Brandon Morrow began on a glorious summer day at Cheney Stadium, with Foss High School glistening beyond the outfield wall and Rhubarb the Reindeer roaming the ballpark.

Morrow's day started bracingly early (first pitch was 11:32 a.m.) and was incongruously brief, belying the glare of attention that marked his first start since Sept. 2, 2006 with the Inland Empire 66ers.

Morrow threw 34 pitches, one fewer than his maximum count, which brought him through 1-2/3 scoreless innings of the Tacoma Rainiers' victory over the Albuquerque Isotopes. Twenty-one were strikes, all but three were fastballs, and the speed gun topped out at 98 mph while averaging 95.

Morrow struck out one, the hallowed Tagg Bozied to end the first, and allowed one hit, a booming double by Dallas McPherson, the one-time Angels prospect who has 39 homers this year for the Isotopes.

It was one small step on Morrow's journey to the Mariners' 2009 rotation. But that was enough to elicit this dreamy forecast from his catcher, Rob Johnson, on what kind of starter the Mariners might be getting.

"If he continues to spot up his fastball like we've seen him do, and he can throw his off-speed pitches for strikes, he's going to dominate just like a couple of other younger guys who throw hard — [Tim] Lincecum and [Joba] Chamberlain.

"They're the same guys."

From his lips to Mariners pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre's ears.

Morrow, who will increase to about 50 pitches in his next start Monday at Tucson, struggled a bit throwing out of his windup, having worked out of the stretch exclusively this year as a short reliever.

That, he said, was the reason his off-speed pitches were limited to two sliders and one changeup.

"I wanted to throw more off-speed pitches, but I was falling behind out of the windup," he said. "And also, the first time through the lineup, you want to throw a lot of fastballs, usually. But I'll definitely have to incorporate more off-speed pitches. I'll be working on that."

That's part of the learning curve that awaits Morrow. He has to learn to pace himself like a starter, develop a starter's repertoire and routine, even change his short reliever's mindset on location.

"I have to work more in the [strike] zone," he explained. "I usually work on the corners, but now I have to force contact a little more."

Even his warmup style must be tweaked.

"I slowed it down in the bullpen more than I usually would, and tried to ease into it," he said. "That's part of the deal working down here is working on the routine as a starter."

Ryan Rowland-Smith, Morrow's teammate most of the year in Seattle and now again in Tacoma, had a head start making the same transition.

Rowland-Smith was up to 101 pitches his last start, and could be Seattle-bound any day. He remembers what it was like in the early days of shifting from the bullpen.

"For me, it's just getting through that fourth, fifth inning, getting comfortable as soon as you can and working through that," he said. "In Venezuela last winter [where both Rowland-Smith and Morrow worked as starters], I thought, 'Man, this feels like a marathon — four innings.' "

On a day in which Matt Tuiasosopo hit two homers, Victor Diaz belted his 23rd and the Rainiers racked up their ninth straight victory, 8-0, it was Morrow who created the buzz.

He was quietly thrilled to be told, after Monday's victory over the Twins at Safeco Field, that the much-debated plan to convert him to a starter was finally being put in motion. He hopes to return to Seattle when the Rainiers' season ends on Sept. 1, time enough for maybe five starts for the Mariners.

"I was all for it," Morrow said. "Get down here, get some work in, and get back up."

Pitching against the Isotopes is a far cry from facing Alex Rodriguez with the game on the line. But as he sat afterward in the cramped home clubhouse, facing a throng of reporters, Morrow smiled and said, "I'll just roll with it, I guess."

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com