FORT WAYNE, Ind. — It would have been easy for Joey Morgan to be intimidated.
The West Michigan catcher, in his second season in pro ball, has a manager who was an eight-time major-league all-star behind the plate who helped lead the 1984 Tigers to a World Series title.
But the No. 20 prospect in the Detroit organization said playing for Whitecaps manager Lance Parrish provides a chance to learn from one of the better catchers in baseball history.
“It’s a great opportunity for a young catcher like me to pick his brain on a daily basis,” Morgan said. “When it comes to catching, you never stop learning.
“It seems like I’m asking him on a daily basis about some aspect of catching. And it seems like I’m learning more from him every day.”
Defensively the lessons are paying off for Morgan, the Tigers’ third-round pick in last year’s draft. He has a .981 fielding percentage in his first 50 games at the Low Single-A level, and he has drawn raves from the Whitecaps pitching staff.
“He’s good at calling games and receiving the ball,” former West Michigan teammate Matt Manning said of pitching to Morgan. “He works hard back there, and I’m comfortable pitching to him.”
“With Joey, you know you don’t have to be too perfect or too fine. He will work to make things easy for you. If you’re trying to bounce a curve in the dirt to get a swing or set up a pitch, you can have confidence he will block it for you.”
Parrish likes what he has seen defensively from the 21-year-old University of Washington product.
“He’s a good receiver of pitches, and he blocks pitches [in the dirt] extremely well,” Parrish said. “That part of his defensive game is pretty solid.
“We’re working on the throwing part of his game. For some reason, his mechanics have gotten jumbled up. We know [the ability to throw out baserunners] is there because we’ve seen it. He’s got a little hitch in his giddy-up, but we know it’s there.”
BUILDING BLOCKS: Sandy Baez ■ Beau Burrows ■ Daz Cameron ■ Alex Faedo ■ Kyle Funkhouser ■ Matt Manning
Morgan hit just .211 with three homers and 14 RBIs in his first 50 contests with West Michigan. And while both Parrish and Morgan agree that offense is secondary to the defense when it comes to catchers, Morgan knows he can do more.
“I’m just trying to put the ball in play a little more, trying to contribute to the team any way I can,” he said. “I can affect the game a lot more defensively behind the plate than I can coming to the plate four times, so I’m focused on defense more.”
Parrish thinks Morgan, who hit .324 his final year at UW while earning second-team All-America honors, is taking steps forward offensively.
“I think he’s fought himself a little bit at this level because he’s not satisfied with the results,” Parrish said. “Sometimes that’s a good thing because I think you can over-think hitting. …
“He’s starting to come around. He’s got pop, and he’s been using the whole field recently, so that’s encouraging.”
Working with an all-star major-league catcher also allows Morgan to focus on improving his game — and keeps him from looking toward promotions to higher levels.
“I’m just trying to be successful here first,” Morgan said. “It’s kind of hard to look too far ahead.
“I’m just trying to accomplish my goals here first.”
Contact John Wagner at jwagner@theblade.com, 419-724-6481, or on Twitter @jwagnerblade.
First Published July 1, 2018, 4:00 p.m.
