Cody Morissette Is A Natural In The Batter’s Box

Cody Morissette didn’t wait long for his first hit.

At 13 months old, while his mother Kristen was running a high school softball practice, Morissette got up from his baby carriage, placed a ball on a tee and took a rip.

“It was a perfect swing,” said Dave Morissette, Cody’s father. “He takes after Kristen, who had the sweetest swing I’ve ever seen.”

Like Cody, Kristen was a shortstop who swung lefthanded and threw right. She made the Hall of Fame at her alma mater, Division III Plymouth State in New Hampshire.

In fact, Cody is a third-generation lefty-hitting shortstop. His grandfather Bob Hodsdon preceded him and his mother at University of New Hampshire in the 1960s.

Cody has them all beat. He starred at Boston College for three years before the Marlins drafted him in the second round this year.

The 6-foot, 175-pound Morissette could end up at second base or third base.

“He has a proven track record at the highest level of college baseball,” BC coach Mike Gambino said. “Yet he has tremendous upside because he hasn’t played that much baseball, relatively speaking.”

Morissette’s track record includes being named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference first team in 2021. He hit .337/.400/.507 in 114 career games, totaling 12 home runs.

Gambino’s point about “upside” has to do with Morissette not focusing completely on baseball in high school. He was New Hampshire’s Mr. Basketball in 2018, and he played quarterback, safety and punter in football.

As a college freshman, Morissette played through a broken bone in his right wrist that resulted from a hit by pitch and still hit .320. As a sophomore, Covid limited him to 15 games, negating what might have been a special season. He hit .448.

This spring, he broke two knuckles while sliding into home and still hit .321 with an .895 OPS.

The Marlins assigned Morissette to Low-A Jupiter after signing him, and while he hit just .204 in 34 games, there were reasons for optimism.

“His metrics were good,” Gambino said. “His hard-contact rate was good, and he showed plate discipline, swinging at the right pitches.

“Anyone who knows him knows he will hit.”