FORT MYERS, Fla. — Left-handed reliever Jovani Morán’s father can reach for those clothes in the back of the closet or wherever he tucked them away back in 2015.
“He’d always wear Boston Red Sox (clothes) until I got drafted by the Twins,” Morán said at JetBlue Park on Thursday. “That’s when he stopped using his shirts and hat.”
The Red Sox acquired Morán from the Twins in a rare Christmas Eve trade. It turned out to be a nice Christmas gift for his dad.
“When they told me the Red Sox — I love the Red Sox. My dad, he’s been a huge fan of the Red Sox,” Morán said. “So when I called him, he was very excited.”
Morán, a Twins seventh rounder in 2015 out of the Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy in Puerto Rico, is coming off Tommy John surgery he underwent in November 2023. He’s had some success in the majors, including posting a 2.21 ERA in 40 ⅔ innings out of the bullpen in 2022 as a rookie.
He had a 5.31 ERA in 42 ⅓ innings for Minnesota in 2023 but his expected numbers were much better. He had a 3.69 expected ERA and .211 expected batting average. He also had an impressive 37.0% whiff percentage and 27.5% hard hit percentage.
“I’m healthy and 100%,” he said. “I should begin throwing my live BPs next Friday. So probably two or three lives and I should be ready for games.”
Boston sent catcher Mickey Gasper to the Twins for Morán who is in camp as a non-roster invitee (he’s not on the 40-man roster).
Usually Christmas Eve to New Year’s is a quiet time in baseball. Not many transactions happen.
The caller ID on Morán’s cell phone read “Jeremy Zoll” as he was in a car headed to his girlfriend’s house for a Christmas Eve dinner and party.
Zoll is the GM of the Twins. Morán knew it was a strange time for Zoll to be calling him about something baseball related.
“I was driving back to my girlfriend’s home and I didn’t think anything about baseball that day,” Morán said. “So when I received that call from Jeremy, it was like, ‘He’s not calling to give me (a Merry Christmas).‘ So when I received that call, I knew something was happening.”
He didn’t take it immediately.
“I preferred to park first because I knew something was going on,” Morán said.
He called back Zoll when he got inside his girlfriend’s house.
“My girlfriend was next to me,” Morán said. “She heard me when I said ‘trade.’ I asked (to make) sure. ‘It’s a trade?’ And she was looking at me like it was a surprise.”
He received a call from chief baseball officer Craig Breslow soon after talking with Zoll.
“So when I received that call I was excited,” Morán said. “Something new to me. My first time getting traded. So I didn’t know how to (react) but I’m happy right now.”
Morán said his dad became a Red Sox fan as a kid.
He said he’s not exactly sure who his father’s favorite all-time Red Sox player is but he said “probably Pedro Martinez.” He said his dad pitched as a kid.
Morán grew up watching several teams. He didn’t have a favorite. Lefty José Quintana was one of his favorite pitchers growing up.
“I heard I was similar to him with the pitches,” Morán said.
Morán has a career 29.0% strikeout percentage and has averaged 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings. But control (13.5% walk percentage, 5.1 walks per nine innings) is something that must improve.
His changeup is his best and most-often used pitch. Hitters went 14-for-90 (.156) with a .141 expected batting average against his changeup in 2023, 8-for-79 (.101) with a .137 expected batting average vs. the pitch in ‘22 and 1-for-14 (.071) with a .058 batting average vs. it in ’21.
It has late movement.
“And I feel like the trust in that pitch, I feel like that’s the key,” he said. “I trust in that pitch and I can throw it for strikes. I trust it.”
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