The predominant story in the Twins’ organization this season has been the rapid rise through the system of starting pitchers.

On the heels of David Festa and Zebby Matthews joining the Twins this season, right-hander Andrew Morris has climbed from Class-A Cedar Rapids to Double-A Wichita to the Saints this season, and has shown the same type of promise that led to Festa and Matthews reaching the big leagues.

The 22-year-old Morris, a fourth-round draft pick by the Twins out of Texas Tech in 2022, is a combined 17-6 with an earned-run average of 2.46 since turning professional. He’ll make his third start for the Saints on Saturday, with the first two leading to no decisions.

A newlywed in March, Morris said it has been a pretty good year to date.

“Just trying to get better each week out,” Morris said of his approach this season. “It’s been a fun year development-wise and figuring out who I am as a pitcher.”

Morris’ repertoire includes a change-up, curveball, slider, cutter and a fastball that he says tops out at 98 miles per hour.  He considers the fastball to be his best pitch. Overall, he has registered 111 strikeouts in 108 1/3 innings this season.

Morris said he has been encouraged by seeing the other pitchers move their way up through the system. Left-hander Christian MacLeod also was promoted to the Saints earlier this month after beginning the season in High Class-A, but he has since been returned to Wichita.

“I’ve been kind of chasing Zebby everywhere all year,” Morris said. “That was awesome to see him get up there and make his first start against the Royals and strike out Bobby Witt. But yeah, we’ve come up together, and I definitely think that could be me.

“But we’ve got some work to do, obviously.”

Morris will be looking for a bit of a bounce back after allowing three runs in three innings in his last start against Indianapolis. He also gave up four walks.

“Any kind of failure I think is such a good learning experience,” he said. “That is the closest thing I’ve seen to a big-league lineup in my career. I have to be better than walking four dudes.”

Morris was born on September 1, 2001, in New York but his family moved to Oregon when he was an infant. He also spent some time in Alaska before the family settled in Colorado. He pitched one season for Texas Tech after spending three years at Colorado Mesa University.

The Saints are hosting the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the Triple-A team of the New York Yankees, at CHS Field this week, and Morris said he grew up a Yankees fan. His dream of one day playing for them lasted until the day he was drafted by the Twins.

“Obviously, super pumped to be here,” Morris said.

The Saints entered Tuesday night’s game looking to snap a nine-game losing streak, but things unraveled early. They trailed 9-0 before DaShawn Keirsey Jr. hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning.

The Saints trailed 9-3 in the top of the eighth inning when this edition of the Pioneer Press went to press.

The RailRiders scored four runs against Saints starter Aaron Rozek in the first inning, which included a two-run home run. The RailRiders added single runs off of Rozek in the second and third.

Briefly

Louie Varland (4-8) starts Game 2 of the series for the Saints on Wednesday.

The Saints’ franchise record for consecutive losses is 11, set from May 8-20 in 2022.

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