Andrew John Morales (born January 16, 1993) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

Saraperos de Saltillo The Saraperos de Saltillo (English: Saltillo Serape Wearers) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League. Their home ballpark is the Estadio de Béisbol Francisco I. Madero in Saltillo, Coahuila. They have won three championships (198 ...

of the

Mexican League The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country. The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...

Career

Morales graduated from South Hills High School and played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

Rio Hondo College Rio Hondo College is a public community college in Whittier, California. The college is named after the Rio Hondo. Founded in 1960, it mainly serves the cities of Whittier, Pico Rivera, Santa Fe Springs, El Monte, and South El Monte. Rio Hond ...

from 2011 to 2012 before transferring to

UC Irvine UC may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''University Challenge'', a popular British quiz programme airing on BBC Two ** '' University Challenge (New Zealand)'', the New Zealand version of the British programme * Universal Century, one of the ti ...

and playing there from 2013 to 2014. In 2014, he was named an All-American and won the Senior CLASS Award for baseball. During his college career he went 42–3 with a 2.00

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA) and 361

strikeouts In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

St. Louis Cardinals

Morales was drafted by the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

in the second round of the

2014 Major League Baseball Draft The 2014 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft was held from June 5 through June 7, 2014, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The first two rounds were conducted on June 5, followed by rounds three through ten on June ...

. He signed with the Cardinals and spent his first professional season with both the

Gulf Coast Cardinals The Florida Complex League Cardinals are a Rookie-level affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Cardinals. The team plays i ...

and the

Palm Beach Cardinals The Palm Beach Cardinals are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in the town of Jupiter in Palm Beach County, Florida, and play their home games at Roge ...

, where he went 1–1 with a 2.19 ERA in 12.1 innings pitched between both clubs. Morales spent 2015 with the

Springfield Cardinals The Springfield Cardinals are a Minor League Baseball team based in Springfield, Missouri. They compete as a member of the Texas League's North Division. The Cardinals began play in 2005. The team is owned by the 11-time Major League Baseball ...

, where he went 5–8 with a 5.00 ERA in 26 starts. He returned to Springfield in 2016, going 4–4 with a 3.35 ERA in only 14 starts due to injury. Morales began 2017 on the disabled list with Springfield, and after he was activated, was assigned to Palm Beach; however, he soon returned to Springfield, and was then assigned to Memphis, but once again returned to Springfield. Morales finished 2017 with a 2–1 record, a 3.55 ERA, and 36 strikeouts in 34 innings pitched. Morales spent a majority of 2018 with Memphis, pitching to a 2–4 record with a 3.88 ERA in 46 relief appearances along with pitching in three games for Springfield. He missed all of 2019 due to injury. He was released by the Cardinals on January 10, 2020.

Acereros de Monclova

On May 20, 2021, Morales signed with the

Acereros de Monclova The Acereros de Monclova (English: Monclova Steelers) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League based in Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico. Their home ballpark is Estadio de Béisbol Monclova, which has a capacity of 11,000 people. The Acere ...

of the

for the 2021 season. In 23 relief appearances, he registered a 1–2 record with a 4.81 ERA and 30 strikeouts.

Saraperos de Saltillo

On October 13, 2021, Morales, along with IF Jose Vargas and P

Ryan Verdugo Ryan L. Verdugo (born April 10, 1987) is a Mexican-American professional baseball player for El Águila de Veracruz of the Mexican League. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals and the Chinese Professional Baseba ...

, were traded to the

of the

in exchange for OF Juan Perez.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morales, Andrew 1993 births Living people Acereros de Monclova players American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Baseball players from California Baseball pitchers UC Irvine Anteaters baseball players Gulf Coast Cardinals players Palm Beach Cardinals players Springfield Cardinals players Memphis Redbirds players