How Murphy Stehly ended up at Texas, where he is one of the nation's most feared hitters
Texas’ Murphy Stehly is without question one of the best hitters in the nation in 2022. He leads Division I in hits, is fourth in batting average, and 19th in slugging percentage. He is currently on a 15-game hitting streak, and he has at least one hit in all but two of the contests of he’s appeared in.
How torrid has the run been for the senior from Carlsbad, Calif.?
“I joked with him the other day and said he went 2-for-5 on Tuesday and his average went down,” Texas starting pitcher Tristan Stevens, Stehly’s roommate, said Thursday.
Stehly promised Stevens that if he was put into the lineup this year, just like he was in the season’s second game versus the Rice Owls, he wasn’t going to be taken out. Stehly has kept that pledge, slashing a ridiculous .456/.496/.792 (AVG/OBP/SLG). He, along with Ivan Melendez and Pete Hansen, were named to the midseason watchlist for the Golden Spikes Award, given annually to the nation’s best amateur baseball player.
Now in his third season at Texas, Stehly arrived as a utility man who could play any spot in the infield. He was a proverbial “tenth guy” for Texas’ 2020 and 2021 squads, performing well but unable to unseat any of the starters.
“I wanted to be a guy this year,” Stehly said Thursday. “I didn’t know exactly how it was going to shake out and where I was going to play, but I definitely wanted to be one of the guys this year. I had a lot of motivation. Last year was awesome, being on the bench and coming in when I needed to. But I definitely wanted to be one of the starters this year and it’s working out.”
Stevens noted Stehly is the hardest worker he’s seen on a baseball field. Texas head coach David Pierce said Stehly pays attention, has built his swing to be one of the best at this point in college baseball in the 2022 season, and is getting his just desserts after two years spent working behind the scenes.
“I just feel like the kid is getting what he deserves,” Pierce said. “You talk about kids who get in trouble, and ‘well it’s going to catch up to him. He’s getting what he deserves.’ I look at Murph, and everything he’s done since he walked into the building here, how he’s put the work in, how he’s built routines, and how he’s listened to his coaches, he’s getting what he deserves.”
“What do you think of my shortstop?”
It took Stehly several years to become the household name in college baseball he is now. He attended Orange Coast College in California, where he played for respected junior college coach and close friend of Pierce’s, John Altobelli.
Altobelli, known as “Alto,” passed away on January 26, 2020, in the same helicopter crash that took the lives of Kobe and Gianna Bryant, as well as the lives of Altobelli’s wife and one of his daughters. Stehly switched his number to No. 14 ahead of the 2020 season in honor of Altobelli and has kept it in the ensuing two years.
Stehly said he and Pierce connected over the loss of their friend. “That same day, we were out on the practice field because that’s what he would have wanted,” Stehly said.
And if it weren’t for Alto, Stehly might not even be at Texas.
Pierce said he first met Stehly while recruiting another player at Orange Coast. He went to California to see his recruiting target, and Alto pulled him aside.
“Alto and I talked, and he said, ‘what do you think of my shortstop?’” Pierce said. “I thought he’s a nice player. He goes, ‘I think he can help you.’ I said ‘Mike, I don’t need a shortstop, but you know what? Let’s bring him in with the other player.’ Usually when you bring a player in, you’re bringing him in with an offer and I didn’t have an offer for Murph.”
Things didn’t work out between Texas and the other unidentified prospect, but what Stehly said in his meeting with Pierce convinced the Longhorns’ head man to give him a chance on the Forty Acres.
“Murph was like, ‘I just want an opportunity,’” Pierce said. “Murph ended up coming, the other player went elsewhere. It was all set up for me going out there to see another player, then find out that Murph’s built the way he is. Alto and I talked about it, and he turned out to be the right guy.”
Said Stehly about his junior college experience, “The goal when I was there was to get here. When I did that, after that it was just put my head down and work and see what comes out of it. It’s been going well so far. Keep it rolling.”
Stehly is part of a lineup that likely terrifies most opposing pitchers. He, like Melendez, is a player Pierce unearthed thanks to his connections, and now Stehly is a contender for one of baseball’s top honors as a result of his excellence on the diamond.
A midseason watchlist, however, is not Stehly’s end goal. There is more for him to accomplish, and in order to get there, it’ll take more of the hard work that has helped him get to where he is now.
What is “there?”
“It’s about winning the Big 12, winning a regional, a super regional, and going to Omaha,” Stehly said.
Those are lofty tasks. Texas likely can’t accomplish them without Stehly. Luckily for Texas, Pierce had a connection out West.
“It’s definitely more special because of all that, for me and I think for Murph,” Pierce said.
