If you live in Georgia, we don’t need to mention how hot it was this week.
Charlie Morton started on Wednesday and tossed seven more scoreless innings. He’s thrown 18 scoreless frames over his last three starts. He was prepared for the heat in part because of a lesson he learned around a decade ago.
Morton pitched for Pittsburgh at the time, and this story happened after a start in St. Louis. He needed an IV after an outing, and when the doctor came to check on him, Morton was honest.
“Man, I just have these starts where I get to the fifth or sixth inning, and I start cramping,” Morton said. “Whether it’s my hammy, my arm, my calf, just something.”
The doctor gave Morton the same advice that he offered another major-league pitcher: Over-salt your food the day before a start.
So, that’s what Morton does.
“I’m not a dietician, I’m not giving anyone advice,” Morton said. “But since then, I mean, really, I don’t know what to tell you, but I’ve over-salted my food the day before I’ve started, and I haven’t really dealt with many issues like that since. Shoot, for all I know, that extended my career.”
This is just one of many items that can be found in the Braves Dispatch newsletter from AJC Braves beat reporter Justin Toscano. To sign up for the free Braves Report newsletter, which will now include the Braves Dispatch on Fridays, go to https://www.ajc.com/newsletters/subscribe-atlanta-braves/. Just enter your email address and you are done.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
