Charlie Morton ‘thankful’ to wear Braves uniform one more time

“The way my year’s gone, it’s been crazy,” Morton said. “So the thought of coming back and being around guys here, the guys in the clubhouse, the staff, the people that work here at the stadium, and getting to see (familiar reporters) again — the year has been surreal, in oftentimes bad ways. So having the chance to feel a little bit at home, a little peace, is nice.

“Getting to walk through that door and seeing the guys, and feeling that feeling, it was a pretty nice thing for me and for them to have done.”

It’s still undetermined whether Morton will appear in a game, but the player suggested he thinks he’ll take the mound at some point whether it’s as a starter or reliever.

The Braves drafted Morton in 2002. He debuted in 2008 and was later traded to Pittsburgh. It took years, but Morton found himself and became one of baseball’s most reliable starters. He won a World Series with Houston in 2017 and returned to one in 2020 with Tampa Bay.

Morton signed with the Braves in 2021, helping the team win the World Series. He was a rotation staple for the next three years, a consistent innings eater who was adored in the clubhouse for his easygoing demeanor and leadership.

There was an expectation that Morton would retire following the 2024 season, but he instead signed a one-year, $15 million deal with Baltimore. It was deemed a surprised he’d change teams, but after the Braves didn’t make an effort to retain him, the rising Orioles — who train in Sarasota, Florida, near his family home in Bradenton, and play home games close to his wife’s family — were a suitable alternative.

The Orioles’ season tanked, however. Morton struggled mightily early, saying he felt he was failing his family and the organization, before recapturing good enough form to make him an appealing trade candidate. Detroit acquired him, reuniting him with manager A.J. Hinch, with whom he won the 2017 title. Morton posted an ERA over 7.00 in nine appearances with the club, most recently getting knocked around by the Braves last weekend, and the Tigers dropped him.

Morton didn’t outright say he was retiring Tuesday, but he indicated it. He didn’t sound like a player who’d be inclined to continue pitching. This time, he’s seemingly made peace with his career concluding. And while it wasn’t a fairy-tale finale campaign, he’d finish it wearing a Braves uniform.

“Coming into the year, the intention was that this would be my last year,” Morton said. “I was pretty much at that point towards the end of last year, but I think when I started to think about everything last year for me and the team, it was just a really weird year. I walked off the mound for the last time and it didn’t feel right. I didn’t feel like I was at peace with it. I felt ready to go home, I felt that way for the past five years — quite frankly, it’s like every fall and winter I’ve considered retiring. …”

Morton explained that his latest stint with the Braves gave him an appreciation for staying in one place with a group he really cared about. He didn’t feel at peace with walking away last winter, which led to what turned out to be a hectic 2025 season. He felt his stuff was still up to par throughout this summer, but he couldn’t adjust and execute to the point that’d produce consistent success.

“I thought (my time with Baltimore) would’ve been a nice way to finish and compete and fix some of the things I did wrong last year and walk away at peace with it,” Morton said. “This year was the complete opposite of that. Pretty much everything that could’ve gone wrong went wrong. So did I accomplish that? Not in the way I wanted to. But I definitely feel like I have the answers to those feelings.

“You have to learn it’s not always going to end the way you want it to. You’re not always going to walk away from something having done it exactly how you wanted to do it at the exact moments you wanted to do it in. It might not work out.”

Morton might make his last appearance against the Pirates, the team that first traded for him and kept him for seven seasons. The Braves open a three-game series Friday against Pittsburgh to conclude the season.

“On a personal level, it’s like, man, like, how do I not take that opportunity to go in and spend some time here and try to soak it in, and try to feel that feeling that I’ve been chasing,” Morton said. “Because I think that’s really this whole time what I’ve been doing in baseball. I love the challenge, I love the routine, I love the camaraderie and even the failure. The failure is the is the secret sauce, like it’s just the thing that really shapes who you are and who you can be. But I also realize that that’s kind of what I’ve been, deep down, searching for, is that feeling of like belonging and that feeling of being at peace when you lay your head down at night.

“I think you get to a point where you, if you play long enough, or shoot, if you don’t – but you have moments where you’re vulnerable, you’re exposed, especially in the postseason. You lay it out there.

“It’s like, ‘This is who I am. This is all I have. This is literally all I have to give.’ I think when you do that with a group of guys in a place, that peaceful feeling, it’s like just being able to take a deep breath just for, like, a day, a night — it makes some of the difficult times worth it. I think that I’ve done that now for a really long time. I’m just really thankful to be here after all this has happened.”