Former Kelly pitcher makes strong impression with Catfish in 2022, inks again for 2023

A year ago, at this time, Bryce Morgan was barely on the radar of the Cape Catfish, as he was wrapping up a redshirt spring with Mineral Area College baseball.

Fast-forward to today and the Catfish can’t get enough of the former Kelly High School standout pitcher.

Morgan recently signed to play a second season for Cape this coming summer after he finished a very impressive first year on the diamond with Mineral Area.

“Bryce was a ‘temp guy,’ who came in for a couple of weeks,” former Catfish pitching coach Dave Lawson said recently of the 2022 season. “He really just did a great job of throwing strikes and competing all summer.”

Morgan signed a temporary contract last May to help the Catfish field a roster until its REAL players got into town following their collegiate seasons. The (very pleasant) problem arose for Cape when Morgan ended up being REALLY good and the club eventually signed him to a season-long deal.

“He just kept going out there and getting opportunities,” Lawson said. “Every time that he did, he just kept us in games and competed.”

Morgan appeared in 10 games last summer with the Catfish, all out of the bullpen, and earned two victories while throwing over 24 innings.

His ERA was a very solid 3.70.

“He didn’t go real deep into games,” Lawson continued, “but he had an unlimited amount of innings, so he was able to go in there and throw four or five innings every time out, and kind of competed every time that he went out there.”

That is precisely what he did this spring for the Cardinals.

In his first real action against junior college athletes, Morgan helped Mineral Area win 35 games this spring.

He appeared in 14 games (three starts) and went 5-0 with an unreal .86 ERA.

In 31 1/3 innings, the right-hander allowed just 11 hits and three earned runs, while walking only nine batters and striking out 37.

“Bryce throws strikes,” Lawson said. “He’s not going to overpower you with fastballs. He can throw a fastball, change-up, slider, and curveballs. He’s going to pitch backward and just pound the zone and hopefully (the batter) just beats it into the ground.”

The Catfish begin the 2023 season on May 31 at O’Fallon, with their home debut at Capaha Field on June 3 against Jackson (Tenn.) at 7:35 p.m.