John Blanchette: Gonzaga’s Eli Morgan throws opponents a curve with his masterful changeup

The changeup is a baseball institution, dating back to Abner Doubleday himself. The sport put its Hall of Fame in the New York town where the old Union general invented the game in 1839. Except, of course, he didn’t.

And everyone’s been swinging and missing that pitch ever since.

So what’s known as a changeup you could also call a lie, which is what it looks like to hitters.

When Eli Morgan is on the mound for the Gonzaga Bulldogs, catcher Jake Roberts calls it, often as not, when an out-pitch is needed – any time, any count, any batter.

You go with what works.

And as a starting pitcher, Morgan works as efficiently and successfully as any the Zags have had in their baseball history – which doesn’t go back to Doubleday, but does go back through some pretty fair arms like Mike Mahoski, Mike Davey, Tom Gorman and, more recently, Marco Gonzales and Brandon Bailey.

The junior righthander will be on the mound Friday night at Patterson Baseball Complex when the Bulldogs, co-leaders of the West Coast Conference, meet Saint Mary’s in search of their ninth straight victory. It also starts a 10-game homestand for the Zags, who just this week shot up into Collegiate Baseball’s national rankings at No. 19.

“That feels strange to say,” Morgan admitted. “That’s as many home games as we had all last year.”

Even so, the 2016 Bulldogs played their way into the NCAA Tournament as an at-large selection. So naturally they didn’t expect any less this season, even with last year’s ace – Bailey – now toiling in the Oakland A’s chain.

Besides, the Zags had an ace in the hole.

Morgan was 8-0 against the WCC as Gonzaga’s Saturday starter a year ago, so it’s no surprise to find him 7-1 on the season now. But he’s been far and away the league’s most dominant player – five pitcher-of-the-week awards in the last two months. That’s included a couple of 15 strikeout performances and a complete-game shutout against Pacific in which Morgan was four outs from a perfect game.

“A little grounder up the middle I couldn’t get and the shortstop couldn’t either,” he said of the spoiler. “It was a little heartbreaking, but you can never expect a perfect game – even being that close.”

But the unexpected is a big part of the Eli Morgan package.

He is not today’s prototypical tight-end-sized flamethrower. Oh, his fastball can now touch 93 mph, but it’s propelled from an engine that stands just 5-10 and weighs 185 – a hint as to how he landed at Gonzaga. Back in high school in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Morgan could hide behind a groundskeeper’s rake.

“Late bloomer – definitely way under the radar,” he said. “I didn’t even get a Division III offer until the beginning of my senior year. Gonzaga called me up one day in February and then came out and watched me in March and offered a walk-on spot.”

That summer, he went 8-0 for Yakima Valley in the West Coast League – the summer idyll for collegiate players – and it was pretty clear the Zags had a steal. And all he’s done since is win. Combine his GU stats and those summer stints in the WCL, Alaska and Cape Cod leagues and Morgan is 31-6, with a 2.81 earned run average over 352 innings.

And the winningest part of his game is that changeup.

“He may have the best one in the country,” offered his pitching coach, Brandon Harmon.

Morgan throws it with that A-OK grip out of a fastball motion, only with as much as a 17 mph difference. Harmon calls it almost a screwball, with “left-handed slider-type movement.

“He’s been outstanding at putting hitters away,” said Harmon, “and his strikeout numbers reflect it (9.5 a game, up three from 2016). I’d say 50 percent of his strikeouts have been with that pitch. And the biggest thing is – and you’ve seen Felix Hernandez do this – he’s not afraid to throw it to right-handed batters. Most guys don’t want to do that because the ball’s not moving away from the hitter.”

Morgan’s high school pitching coach, Brian Bowles – once a Blue Jays reliever – steered him toward the change as the ticket to pitch beyond the high school level. And the Zags reinforced it.

“How they described it – and it made sense to me – is that hitters can practice hitting curveballs, but you can’t practice hitting a changeup,” Morgan said.

Added Harmon, “A 90 mph guy with a slider is a dime a dozen in pro ball.”

Morgan has one of those, too, and a curveball. And pro designs – though Baseball America pegs him at just the No. 8 prospect in the WCC. That seems low for a pitcher no team in the league has ever beaten, but baseball’s scouting dogma dies hard.

Maybe Eli Morgan will throw them a changeup. It’s his best pitch.