For a Padres rookie, path to majors paved by legendary coach who perished with Kobe Bryant

New York Times

01-05-2025

SAN DIEGO — One day five years ago, shortly after a tragic accident claimed the lives of his college baseball coach and eight others, David Morgan had a permanent reminder tattooed into his skin. A string of Roman numerals runs down the right side of his neck. Each symbol is filled with meaning.
Alyssa Altobelli wore No. 5 as a member of the girls' basketball team coached by legendary NBA star Kobe Bryant, coincidentally donning the same number Morgan had as a high school infielder. Alyssa's father, John Altobelli, wore No. 14 for almost his entire tenure as a highly successful baseball coach at Orange Coast College. In 2019, to honor an OCC player who unexpectedly died a decade earlier, Altobelli wore No. 22.
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On Jan. 26, 2020, two days before Morgan's sophomore season at OCC, grief again enveloped the program: John, his wife Keri and Alyssa, along with Bryant and his daughter Gianna, were among the victims of a fatal helicopter crash. In the weeks that followed, as tributes poured in for Bryant, so did remembrances of a junior college coaching icon and a father figure to scores of ballplayers. The young men Altobelli mentored across multiple decades at OCC included a freshman infielder who would eventually become a big-league pitcher in a moment of serendipity.
When the San Diego Padres called up Morgan from Double A last weekend, the San Antonio Missions were on the road in Amarillo, Texas. Inside the visiting clubhouse, Morgan was occupying a locker labeled with the number 14. The 25-year-old relief prospect had spent the first month of the Missions' season wearing, for the first time in his career, No. 22. He would arrive at Petco Park on Sunday, which happened to be the birthday of Lexi Altobelli, John and Keri's surviving daughter.
A little more than 48 hours later, Morgan stood inside the Padres' clubhouse as the seventh OCC alum coached by John Altobelli to reach the majors. He was the first to do so from Altobelli's final team, and he could end up being the last. It felt, Morgan said, like Altobelli was looking down on him.
'If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be where I am now,' Morgan said. 'It was always the goal to get here, but he was the reason I found the path of how to get here.'
Tony Altobelli, the longtime sports information director at OCC, oversees media relations for 25 sports programs. His job precludes him from playing favorites in a professional sense. Still, he cannot help but gravitate to a certain team.
The youngest of seven children, Altobelli played baseball growing up. So did John Altobelli, a fellow Chicago Cubs fan and the sibling closest to Tony in age. So did their oldest brother and their father.
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In 2019, after John led OCC to a school-record 39 wins and his fourth California community college state title, Tony wrote a book chronicling the eventful final 26 hours of the program's championship run. At one point during the reporting process, Tony asked his brother for his thoughts on the team's starting third baseman.
'Love that kid,' John immediately replied. John, Tony recalled, went on to detail his affinity for David Morgan's work ethic and 'grinder' mentality, his willingness to take on any assignment, and his determination to get the most out of a 6-foot frame.
'I think John saw himself in David,' Tony said.
Months earlier, Morgan had arrived on campus as something of a project. 'I wasn't quite that guy,' said Morgan, who came from nearby Mission Viejo High School. 'I was very small, trying to learn how to work, trying to learn how to compete. He taught me how to be competitive, the person I am now.'
John Altobelli also instilled a certain sense of belief. The day they first met, the coach told Morgan he possessed the talent to play pro ball. Within his first week at OCC, Morgan received phone calls from a couple of major-league organizations. His athleticism and defensive ability had attracted early interest. So had his connection to a widely respected coach.
'He put me on the radar,' Morgan said.
Morgan soon repaid Altobelli's confidence. The freshman appeared in 45 games, hitting .306, stealing 11 bases and filling a variety of lineup spots without complaint. He displayed rare arm strength from the hot corner, prompting OCC coaches to wonder aloud if he could pitch. His defense seldom wavered, even that May when he fell into a small slump.
Then, in one 26-hour span, Morgan delivered five hits, including a two-run, go-ahead double in the final game of the season.
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'Probably the biggest hit of our year,' said then-assistant coach Nate Johnson. 'When we needed him the most, he came through for us.'
'He didn't show a lot of emotion,' Morgan said of Altobelli, 'but when I hit that double, I remember seeing him at the end of the dugout and he was fired up.'
That game, it turned out, would be the last Altobelli ever coached.
A half-decade after his death, after he amassed more than 700 wins across 27 seasons and sent hundreds of players on to Division I schools, Altobelli's legacy lives on.
In OCC's John Altobelli Park, also known as 'The House That Alto Built.' In major leaguers such as New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge, who played for Altobelli in the 2012 Cape Cod League and, a decade later, hit two home runs in a game against the Cubs, pointing after each blast to Tony Altobelli in the Yankee Stadium crowd. (Tony, who was wearing an OCC baseball cap that night, captured Judge's attention before the game by yelling, 'Aaron, Alto's watching you today!') In Johnson's efforts as Altobelli's successor to foster a competitive yet inclusive environment despite the high turnover rate of junior college ball. And in an undersized but gifted prospect who embraced the opportunity to return to OCC.
On Jan. 28, 2020, two days after the deaths of John, Keri and Alyssa Altobelli, Morgan batted cleanup and started at shortstop in an emotional season opener. A crowd of about 2,000 showed up for a junior college game, more evidence of John Altobelli's impact. Morgan, OCC's lone returning starting hitter, would move up a spot in the lineup the next game. He mostly stayed there the rest of that spring.
'Knowing that I had him at shortstop every single day and hitting in the three-hole, it calmed our pitchers down,' Johnson said. 'It calmed me down.'
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The relative serenity would not last. Twenty games in, the COVID-19 pandemic ended the season. The amateur draft was shortened from 40 rounds to five, quashing the possibility that Morgan would be drafted out of OCC that summer.
Yet the Pirates, the junior college ones, harbored broader ambitions. Before the games were stopped, they had won nine of their past 12. They rallied around the objective of winning another state title. And there was more to it: They wanted to win it all for Altobelli.
'Coming to the field and coming together and playing there was kind of our way to just honor him, and having that shut down was pretty rough,' Morgan said. 'It kind of sucked.'
It was around the same time that Morgan decommitted from the University of Oregon, which had offered him the chance to play Division I baseball. He resolved to come back to OCC for what he hoped would be a full season.
He didn't quite get one. As the pandemic continued, the start of the 2021 season was delayed. The Pirates found themselves limited to competing for an Orange Empire Conference title, with no regional or state playoffs on the potential schedule.
So, they won their fourth consecutive conference title.
'Winning that conference championship, in my opinion, was just as special as any of the four of John's state championships put together,' Tony Altobelli said. 'Because that's as far as we could go.'
In the moments after the triumph, Altobelli addressed the team. He had done so throughout the season, mostly managing to keep his emotions in check. But now, as his father Jim stood nearby, something welled inside of him.
'I just said, 'You made an old man really happy today,' and I pointed to my dad,' Altobelli said. 'And I said, 'You made a slightly old man very happy today, too,' and I pointed to myself. That's basically all I could get out before I just completely lost it.'
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In Altobelli's recollection, Morgan was one of the first players to come up and hug him. The infielder told the sports information director he loved him. He told Tony he loved John, too.
'That was the goal,' Morgan said. 'It was, come back and win it all for him.'
Pitching was never part of the original goal. Morgan took the mound as a Little Leaguer, but he didn't in any of his high school games. After years of cajoling, he relented to throwing a bullpen session at OCC in 2021. The results seemed to support his insistence that he was not meant to be more than a position player.
'It was all over the place,' Johnson said. 'It was like, we're not going to be able to do anything with that right now.'
Already, however, Morgan's decision to return to OCC had set off an unintended chain of events. After going undrafted for a second consecutive summer, the infielder initially committed to spending the 2022 season playing shortstop for Kansas State University. He later was informed, he said, that he had taken too many junior college classes; if he transferred to a Division I school, he would have to sit out a season.
Eager to keep playing, Morgan settled instead on Hope International University, an NAIA program fewer than 20 miles north of OCC in Fullerton, Calif. He quickly encountered more coaches hoping to unleash his arm. This time, he agreed.
'Because I was at such a small school, I was like, 'I'll throw a little bit off the mound and just see if that gives me a better shot at getting drafted,'' Morgan said.
The ensuing experiment produced immediate intrigue. In a fall scrimmage against his old school, Morgan touched 96 mph. When the spring season opened for Hope International, he moved from shortstop to center field to preserve his arm. He appeared in eight games as a pitcher before a thumb injury paused his progress.
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Morgan resumed pitching that summer, beginning his transition to full-time relief with the Portland Pickles of the collegiate West Coast League. There, Padres area scout Justin Baughman saw what another team official described as 'outlier' talent.
Weeks later, after impressing in a predraft workout at Petco Park, Morgan signed with the Padres as an undrafted free agent. He called Johnson and told his former coach he would open his professional career as a full-time pitcher. Johnson responded by suggesting that Morgan might make it to the majors in three years.
'From the time that he stepped on campus to the time that he left, his arm is still probably one of the best arms we've had in the infield,' Johnson said. 'That kind of an arm is only going to be able to stay in the minor leagues for so long.'
That prediction was validated on Sunday when the Padres promoted Morgan. His trajectory the past two seasons has featured steady improvement and, more recently, an eye-opening surge. With Double-A San Antonio this season, Morgan sat in the mid-to-high 90s with a potentially plus slider. In 8 2/3 innings, he struck out 19 batters and walked only one.
When the Padres, temporarily carrying a nine-man bullpen, saw Logan Gillaspie go down with an oblique injury, they opted for Morgan's hot hand. In Orange County, people in and around the OCC baseball program exulted.
'He texted me (Sunday) and said, like, 'Man, I'm super excited. You guys meant a lot to me. I know Alto would be proud,'' Johnson said. 'Obviously, stuff like that gets you choked up.'
Added Tony Atobelli: 'I have kids come and go every single year, but you never forget a kid like that. And regardless of state championships or not, he was just a good dude that you appreciated.'
Meanwhile, Morgan found himself headed to San Diego, a city that holds special meaning. Before his parents married and settled down in Mission Viejo, Calif., they began dating in San Diego. Morgan grew up attending occasional games at Petco Park and consistently cheering for the Padres.
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His full-circle moment, he believes, is no coincidence. It was more than six years ago that John Altobelli sent him down a particular path. Now, Morgan is awaiting his big-league debut. No matter what happens, he will always be able to say that he proved Altobelli right.
'He always talked about making every day the most important day of your life,' Morgan said. 'You never know when you're not going to get to keep playing, right? You never know when you don't wake up. He unfortunately passed away. That impacted me a lot, but it pushed me to be better. All the things he taught me pushed me through my failures, and (through) the lonely days of all the hard work, I would think about what he did for me.
'He was the greatest human being that I've come across in my baseball career. Every day, I think about just hoping I made him proud.'
(Top photo of David Morgan: Courtesy of Orange Coast College Athletics)