The best of "New West" in the True North strong and free is highlighted in another "spine-tingling" episode of the POTD!
New Westminister, B.C.'s Justin Morneau rounds third base after taking Roy Halladay deep in the eighth inning at Rogers Centre September 9th.
Morneau reached two milestones by crossing home plate - his 30th homer and 100th RBI of the season. His blast to right-center field capped off a 4-1 Twins victory but that turned out to be his final hit of 2009.
The 6-foot-4, 235-pound Morneau comes by his athletic genes honestly. His father, George Morneau, played junior hockey with the Brandon Wheat Kings and attended training camp with the NHL's Minnesota North Stars. A Blue Jays fan growing up, Morneau played hockey, basketball and baseball throughout his childhood. He was a goaltender in hockey and he managed to play in an exhibition game at the major junior level with the Portland Winter Hawks. The number he wore then and still wears today is number 33 in honour of his idol, Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche goaltender Patrick Roy. In an issue of The Hockey News, Winter Hawks assistant coach Mike Williamson felt Morneau had a future on the ice.
"He was young and raw — a big guy who covered a lot of the net. I remember a conversation we had with him when recruiting him. We told him he should go to hockey because not many Canadian guys end up going very far and doing very well in baseball. He showed us otherwise."
The graduate of New Westminster High School moved on to the world of professional baseball when he was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the third round of the 1999 amateur draft. The left-handed hitting first baseman hit .302 later that year with the Gulf Coast League Twins and followed that up with a .402 batting average in the GCL along with 10 home runs during the 2000 campaign.
The 2001 season saw Morneau climb three steps up the minor league ladder as he played in Single-A Quad Cities and Fort Myers and Double-A New Britain. The final totals came to a .314/.389/.497 batting line with 16 homers and 97 runs batted in. 2002 saw Morneau return to New Britain and he clubbed 31 doubles, 16 homers and 80 RBI while hitting .298/.356/.474 with the Rock Cats. He earned a berth in the Future Stars Game and went 1-for-3 with an RBI. He was also called up to Triple-A Edmonton in September where he joined the Trappers just in time to be a part of the Pacific Coast League championship squad.
In 2003, Morneau started his year again in the state of Connecticut but he was called up to Triple-A at the end of April, this time with the Twins new affiliate in Rochester. It was on June 10th that Morneau got the call from the Twins and he singled off the Rockies Jason Jennings in his first major league at-bat. Batting in the clean-up spot as the designated hitter that day, he went 2-for-4 in his first game. However, things did not go as smoothly after that as he hit just .226 with four homers in 40 games and he was sent back to Rochester for the rest of the year.
It was back to Rochester to start the 2004 season and he was on the Red Wings-Twins shuttle for the first half of the season that included a brief trail with Minnesota in May. He was called back up in mid-July and took over at first base permanently when the Twins dealt Doug Mientkiewicz to the Red Sox at the July 31st deadline. Morneau hit .271 and slugged .536 with 19 homers and 58 RBI in 74 games with Minnesota. He earned his first playoff experience by hitting two doubles and driving in two runs but the AL Central Division winning Twins wound up losing to the New York Yankees in the Divisional Series. The 2005 season saw Morneau establish himself as a big league regular but he endured some growing pains as he batted just .239 while his slugging percentage fell 99 points. Still, he managed to belt 22 homers and drive in 79 runs.
Morneau's breakthrough year was 2006 as he won the American League's Most Valuable Player award. He batted .321 and slugged .559 to go along with 37 doubles, 34 homers and 130 RBI to beat out the Yankees Derek Jeter for MVP honours. The months of June and July made the difference for Morneau as he hit .410 and .364 respectively and that also helped him collect his first Silver Slugger award. He batted .417 in the playoffs with two homers but it was not enough as the Central Division champion Twins were swept by the A's in the 2006 ALDS.
In 2007, Morneau earned his first All-Star berth as he hit 31 homers and drove in 110 runs. However, his batting average dropped to .271 and his slugging mark dipped below .500 at .492 as the Twins finished in third place in the Central. He batted .300 in 2008 and slugged .499 with 23 homers and 129 RBI to help extend Minnesota's season to a 163rd game. However, the Twins wound up losing to the White Sox in Chicago in the AL Central playoff tie-breaker. Morneau also came up short in the MVP race as he was the runner-up to Boston's Dustin Pedroia.
The 2009 campaign saw Morneau reach the 30-homer, 100 RBI plateau in the nick of time. Named to the AL All-Star squad for the third straight year, he was hoping to add to his totals with a big September but he was sidelined with a stress fracture in his lower back just two games into a homestand after the Twins were in Toronto. The Twins managed to make do without the slugging first baseman as they caught Detroit on the final day of the season by erasing a seven game deficit to force another playoff tie-breaker. This time, the Twins were successful as they beat the Tigers at the Metrodome in extra innings. However, the Twins were eliminated again in the ALDS as the Yankees closed the baseball book on the Metrodome with a three game sweep. Minnesota was outscored 15-6 in the series and they could have used the big bat of Morneau, especially during their crushing extra innings loss in Game 2 at Yankee Stadium.
The 2010 campaign represents a new beginning for Morneau and the Twins as they prepare to move into their brand new stadium, Target Field. A .280 career hitter, the 28 year-old Morneau has a chance to reach the 200-home runs plateau if he can belt 37 long balls this year. That would represent a three homer increase over his previous season high of 34. However, his .286 career batting average and .513 slugging percentage on the road are better than his .274/.488 marks at the Metrodome. Perhaps the move to Target Field could help Morneau reach the 200-homer target in 2010.
