How Yankees' Morrill went from college shortstop to dominant reliever
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MESA, Ariz. – As the final rounds of the 2022 MLB Draft ticked by, Hueston Morrill sat by his phone. The Yankees called to express their interest and he figured he was set to get his pro career started as a shortstop, joining an iconic franchise and all of the illustrious greats from the game’s past that go along with it.
So how did the 25-year-old arrive in the Arizona Fall League this month fresh off one of Minor League Baseball’s most dominant seasons by a reliever?
Coming out of high school, Morrill was a two-way star for Suwannee HS (Live Oak, Fla.), posting a 1.40 ERA with 153 strikeouts in 117 1/3 innings. The Angels popped him with their 36th-round pick in the 2018 Draft and broached the idea of him becoming a full-time pitcher. But he was strongly committed to playing both ways at Oklahoma State.
Morrill combined to throw just 26 2/3 innings over two years, primarily out of the Cowboys’ bullpen. He struck out 30 batters in that stretch but also posted a 6.41 ERA, not marks that traditionally get on big league organization radars. But when all 20 rounds of the 2022 Draft went by and he didn’t hear his name called, New York still wanted to bring him aboard as a non-drafted free agent.
“I’d always wanted to be a hitter,” said Morrill, who batted .256 across 585 plate appearances as a middle infielder for Oklahoma State. “But the Yankees came to me and said, ‘Hey, we think you’ve got a good enough arm and let's see if you can transition.’”
At some point in their careers, all pitchers revamp their arsenals in some shape or form. But it’s not often that it happens at the professional level. During college, Morrill threw a gyro slider as his primary offspeed offering but the Yankees showed him some promising metrics that showed that if he threw it harder -- turning it into a cutter -- he’d have better results.
“I threw hard in high school, threw hard in college, but now it's just really like the pitching aspects, getting good hitters out,” said Morrill. “Hitters get better all the time. Hitting has evolved in itself, and certain situations you kind of have a good feel of what guys are looking for and stuff like that. For the most part though, it's just enjoying the whole process, just trying to be better at [pitching], knowing that hitting is in the past. Now I’m just really trying to dial into the pitching aspect of it, becoming a pitcher.”
It took some time for his stuff to stick. He had a solid first full season with High-A Hudson Valley in 2024, posting a 3.59 ERA across 47 2/3 innings. It wasn’t enough to put him on any prospect ranking lists or earn end-of-year accolades but he knew he was going better.
Then came 2025.
An 0.76 ERA. A 32 2/3-inning stretch without an earned run allowed. High-A All-Star honors. Hueston Morrill the pitcher had arrived.
Even including four uneven outings for Double-A Somerset, batters hit just .118 with a .398 OPS against Morrill this past year. Lefties in particular were rendered particularly hapless -- .089/.191/.139 slash line with a .103 BABIP. No one could mistake the South Atlantic League for the Majors, but Yankees fans are uniquely familiar with a reliever riding his cutter to unparalleled success.
Morrill -- professing himself a blank slate -- has been a sponge for the Yankees’ pitching development department since his arrival.
“Just trying to really develop and grow as a pitcher,” said Morrill, “utilizing what each guy says and kind of just trying to piece it together and make it all better.”
It’s hard to score runs off any reliever if they’re rarely handing out walks (3.2 BB/9 in 2025) and not allowing much hard contact (15.7 percent line-drive rate). Runners on base? Dominant there too. Working out of the stretch in a pickle usually portends to hits and runs … but not with Morrill on the hill. He allowed just three hits in 59 at-bats (.051) in such situations, including only one extra-base hit. His 93.2 left-on-base percentage ranked second in the Minors and his 0.76 ERA ranked third among all hurlers with at least 45 innings.
Starting on May 5, it was more than three months and 25 appearances until Morrill next gave up a run. Athletes often talk of “flow state,” a circumstance in which everything clicks and fires on all cylinders in a free and easy way. It’s hard to imagine a stretch more emblematic than spinning 32 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run, all while yielding just one extra-base hit.
“For me, it's more just trust in the process, just enjoying being out there playing baseball,” said Morrill. “Each time I go out there, I'm trying to do something a little different to grow as a pitcher. It's still pretty new to me, so I just want to make sure that I'm honed in on the little things and trying to make those as best as they can.”
Morrill’s reward for that success is to keep on pitching. The Yankees tabbed him to face some of the game’s best prospects in the Fall League, putting him in position to make a considerable leap during his age-26 season in 2026.
Through all of the countless positives that the season brought, what sticks out the most?
“The biggest takeaway is just enjoying the process,” said Morrill. “Being able to stay focused throughout the whole season, learn and grow throughout it, be able to look back and just say, ‘You know what? I was healthy for a full season and I was able to compete at the highest level.’ So growing in that process, taking what I can here and there, and learning from each and every person around me. You always learn something new in this game each day. You learn something different and I take that to heart.”