Former Mets Pitcher: Akeel Morris (2015-2016)

 Akeel J. Morris was born November 14h, 1992 in St. Thomas, United Sates Virgin Islands. The six foot one right hander pitched a perfect game in high school while in the Virgin Islands. He was selected by the New York Mets in the tenth round of the 2010 amateur draft.

He pitched his first season with the Gulf Coast Mets & then at Kingsport, where he had great strike out numbers averaging 10.5 Ks per nine innings, but he had control issues, walking 6.5 batters per nine innings. In 2013 he was moved to Brooklyn where he went 4-1 with a 1.00 ERA with the Cyclones. He improved to strike out 60 batters while walking 23.

In 2014 he got even better, while with the Savannah Sand Gnats he became a full time relief pitcher. He was 4-1 with 16 saves, posting a fantastic 0.63 ERA. He struck out 89 batters in 57 innings, which computes to a 14.1 strike out per nine inning ratio. In a rare instance, he struck out four batters in one inning in a game against the Augusta Green Jackets.

He began 2015 with the A ball St. Lucie Mets going 0-1 with 13 saves & a 1.69 ERA. In mid June he got a very big surprise.

On June 17th he was called up to help out a struggling Mets bullpen & reduce their work load. He was given his first chance at Skydome in Toronto against a very powerful Blue Jays line up. He relieved Jonathan Niese in the 8th inning with the Mets own 3-0.

He quickly issued two straight walks before getting Edwin Encarnacion to ground out. He then gave up two base hits, followed by a three run HR to Danny Valencia. The kid from A ball was relieved by John Leathersich.

Morris was sent back down to make room for Logan Verett. He finished 2015 at AA Binghamton with six saves going 0-1 with a 2.45 ERA in 23 games.

He began 2016 with the Mets AA Binghamton club, going 2-2 with  six saves & a 4.62 ERA. In early June 2016 he was traded to the Atlanta Braves organization for veteran Kelly Johnson. At AA Mississippi he was impressive, going 3-1 with a 2.27 ERA  making four starts in 25 games. He struck out 50 batters in 35 innings with 21 walks.