Former Pirate earns call-up to San Diego Padres

COSTA MESA -- While his pitching craft was never worked on as a member of the Orange Coast College baseball team, Pirate infielder-turned-pitcher David Morgan knows his new job title as Major League Baseball Pitcher would not have happened without his tenure at OCC.

After changing his skill set from hitting, fielding and baserunning over to pitching, Morgan has skyrocketed his way through the minor league baseball ranks and on Sunday, he was promoted from Double-A baseball to the Major Leagues for the San Diego Padres. 

"When I got the phone call, I was on the road in Amarillo, Texas in my hotel room," Morgan said of his call-up. "My manager Luke Montz called me and I assumed I was getting called up to Triple A. When he started talking, I immediately heard the tone in his voice and I could tell he was going to tell me something pretty special. When he told me I was going to the big leagues, I kind of blacked out. Knowing that I was going to get to go back home to San Diego and play at the stadium I grew up going to for the team I grew up a fan of, was more than just the dream for me." 

Playing for Coast for the 2019 state championship team and the 2021 Orange Empire Conference championship team (the 2020 season was cancelled and no state playoffs in 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic), Morgan earned his spot on the field for basically everything EXCEPT for pitching.

"When he was at OCC, he played third base and shortstop for us, but for three years I asked him to throw a bullpen," OCC's then-assistant coach (now head coach) Nate Johnson said of Morgan. "You could see his arm talent just playing catch or throwing the ball over to first. He had a cannon. For two years he said 'no' to a bullpen and his third year he threw one, but there weren't many strikes so that was the end of his pitching career at OCC."

Longtime OCC Sports Information Director, Tony Altobelli, had a similar story on Morgan. "I would watch him throw the baseball across the infield and you can tell that it was a next-level arm," Altobelli said. "I remember before a game during batting practice I went up to David and asked him if he'd ever consider pitching for us. He smiled and said. 'Toad, I might kill somebody if I tried to pitch.' That was pretty much the end of that conversation."

After a very successful career at Coast that saw Morgan bat .297 with 92 hits, 12 HR, 72 RBI and 71 runs scored, he moved on to Hope International University, where he added "pitcher" to his baseball resume. As an everyday starting infielder and a part-time reliever, the Padres saw his potential and signed him as a free agent after the 2022 MLB Draft.

This year, while playing for San Antonio at the double-A level, Morgan was putting up incredible numbers throughout the early part of the season. In just 8 2/3 innings of work, Morgan had walked just one batter, while striking out 19, opening the eyes of the big league club, who promoted him after an injury opened up a spot on the Padres roster.

"David text me Sunday morning at around 9 am and told me he got the call up," Johnson said. "Obviously I was super pumped for him. It's always special when one of our guys makes it to the big leagues. I'm proud of David. Proud of the way he accepted and worked at his new role. To go from throwing minimal innings in college to the big leagues in just three years proves how he went about his business and worked at being the best pitcher he could be. Can't wait to see how he continues to grow throughout his baseball career."

While Morgan's career has seen him make his travels throughout the country, it was his time at OCC which helped pave the way to his ultimate dream. Morgan's first year with the Pirates saw him play a huge role on OCC's state championship team in 2019, which happened to be the final year for longtime head coach John Altobelli, who died in January, 2020 in a helicopter crash involving Kobe Bryant and eight other people, including his wife Keri, and daughter, Alyssa.

"The effect that OCC had on me was life changing," Morgan said. "All these years later, I still think about my time there almost every day and how grateful I am to have played for 'Alto' who was and still is one of the greatest people I've been blessed to play for. My time there was a rollercoaster. I was going through a lot mentally and when I showed up there, I had no idea the potential I had in this game. The whole coaching staff there helped me believe in myself and told me from day one that I had a very special talent that they don't see often. I remember being the only freshman in that every day starting line up and Alto pushing me no matter how well I was doing, to be a leader and be a selfless teammate. My favorite memory of being there had to be winning the state championship in 2019 and getting a state championship ring. That team was very special and I learned a lot about how to compete because of those guys. I remember hitting a two-out double in the 7th to put us in the lead in the championship game and looking in the dugout at my teammates going crazy. Alto didn't show much emotion but I remember seeing him at the end of the dugout and he was fired up.

"All my memories of playing for Alto always lead me back to how amazing of a person he was. He taught me so much and is truly still the biggest reason I work as hard as I do. I still say the quote in my head every day to myself that he would tell us ... 'Make today the most important day of your life' and I have lived by that ever since the first day he said that. I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for all the things he did for me. He put me on the radar to be seen by MLB organizations and gave me the courage to push through all of my failures along my journey to get to the big leagues. The craziest part about my call-up to the bigs, I decided to wear number 22 this year which was a special number for Alto, and the locker i was in for that road series, was locker #14. Every time I see that number, I ask myself if I've made him proud, and I think getting called up and being in front of that locker answered my question. I know he's up there smiling ... and probably very confused that I'm a pitcher now. But somehow it all makes sense."