Tyler Morgan: One Arm, One Mind, One Fight
Off to the best start of his professional baseball career, the pain in his right elbow that developed in May finally told Tyler Morgan something wasn’t right.
The Marcus High School alumnus was pitching for the Fort Wayne (Indiana) TinCaps minor league affiliate of the San Diego Padres when he realized he couldn’t continue. After going to the major league team’s spring training facility in Arizona for initial evaluation, he slowly realized he might not pitch again in 2025.
“Baseball today wants you to throw hard, and throwing hard comes with risk,” he said. “We all kind of know what we signed up for. Unfortunately, the one ligament (ulnar collateral) you need to throw a baseball really hard, for the most part, is not regenerative.”
Though the discomfort has subsided to where he can continue with everyday life, whatever is ailing him may require surgery. Back in Flower Mound since mid-June, he’s awaiting results and an ultimate treatment plan so he knows the path forward.
“I don’t care what it is. I don’t care how long it is. I just want to get it done,” he said. “Let’s get on the horse, and get ready to work.”
At Marcus, he didn’t pitch much on the varsity team until his junior year and was primarily used as a first baseman, third baseman, or designated hitter. Everything changed in his junior year when he was one of the go-to guys out of the bullpen and then among the primary starters his senior season when he had an 11-1 record.
“That’s when I had a mentality change,” he said. “I was throwing 88-92 (miles per hour). I was getting recruited before that by junior colleges, but I had already committed (to Abilene Christian University). After I did, everything took off. I had a really good senior season.”
Following his 2019 graduation, he spent four years at ACU where he compiled a 12-12 record and 5.64 earned run average in 53 appearances. His best year was as a junior when he was 6-5 with a 4.92 ERA.
“That fall, I decided to change some things, and that kind of propelled me into the 2020-2021 season,” he said. “I did a complete reset. I got off social media for eight weeks. I prioritized my sleep and nutrition. And my training regimen changed a little bit. It was more focused.
“I had some people in my corner who were intelligent and into pitch arsenal development. I tried to learn as much as I could and it worked.”
The Padres selected him in the 14th round of the 2023 amateur draft about a month after graduating. Within a few days, he was in Arizona and less than two weeks later, assigned to Fort Wayne, San Diego’s high Class A affiliate bypassing the rookie and low Class A levels.
In three years with the TinCaps, he’s 6-7 with a 4.51 ERA over 113.2 innings in 59 games. He began this year 2-0, 3.51 in 25.2 innings and had pitches as high as 96 miles per hour.
“I’ve always worked hard. I was obsessed with learning,” he said. “That’s kind of catapulted me these last few years. Each year, I’ve figured out a way to progress.”
