Michael Stevens has already made a home at Morton.
After attending Hammond Central as a freshman and Andrean as a sophomore, the junior outfielder has taken off with the Governors this season.
“I came here for a better opportunity academically and on the field,” Stevens said. “It’s been great. I love it. It’s been the best year of my life so far.
“It’s my confidence. These guys are really boosting my confidence. I’m going out there and having fun and enjoying the game and being less in my head.”
Batting third and playing center field, Stevens is hitting .538 with 19 RBIs, 21 runs scored and 21 stolen bases. He leads defending Great Lakes Athletic Conference champion Morton (5-9, 1-0) in each category under third-year coach Adam Bednarek.
“He probably has the best baseball instincts I’ve been around, and I’ve coached here for three years, and I’ve coached travel ball for two years beforehand,” Bednarek said. “His instincts, there’s just stuff you can’t teach. He’s going to do things, he’s going to do it on his own and you kind of stand there and look at him and go, ‘Damn.’
“At a certain level, I’m still in the stage of getting to know him. I feel like I know him pretty well, but I feel like every day I learn something new.”
Bednarek said he remembered Stevens from his freshman season at Hammond Central, where Stevens’ mother Ce’Etter is a teacher. Bednarek noted “we couldn’t even get him out.”
Stevens hit .400 with 17 RBIs, 27 runs scored and 22 stolen bases while batting second and playing left field for the Wolves.
“I did pretty good that season, my first high school season,” he said. “I was nervous at the start, a freshman on varsity. After a while, the guys encouraged me to just play.”
Up close, Bednarek has grown more and more impressed with Stevens and described him as “very vocal” during practices and games.
“He’s lighting it on fire,” Bednarek said. “He’s perfect, and I use him as an example all the time. We’re trying to teach two-strike approach pretty heavily. We’re trying to cut down on our strikeouts, and he is so good with the two-strike approach where he widens out. It’s like, ‘Let’s just take a video of Michael and watch Michael because he gets it.’
“He’s just one of those kids that gets it. He’s the type of kid where he’s such a talented player, you don’t want to overcoach him. My job is just to give him what he needs. … You’re going to let him do his thing and let him be himself.”
Bednarek pointed to a recent game as one example.
“Against Bowman last week, he got on, stole second, stole third,” Bednarek said. “He gets to third base, and I’m standing there, we do our little secondary lead. The catcher throws the ball back to the pitcher, and he just takes off for the plate and steals home.
“I just watched him run. I looked down at the ground, and I go, ‘Only Michael. Only Michael is having the brain and the idea to do that.’ It’s just his instincts and everything that he does. He practices hard, plays hard, almost like with a chip on his shoulder. That’s just how he is.”
Stevens was on the junior varsity team at perennial power Andrean, Bednarek’s alma mater.
“I went there to explore new things, especially getting closer with God at a Christian school,” Stevens said. “That was one of my main priorities going there — and for a better baseball team. They had a great team.
“It was a good experience. I just felt like I needed a better opportunity to show out more.”
Stevens went to Scott Middle School, right down the street from Morton. He has grown up with several of the players on the Governors, including junior catcher Marcellous McQuay.
“One of our captains, Marcellous, he talked to me about coming here,” Stevens said. “He told me how happy he was and he’d be happy for me to come here. He just told me it would be a great experience.”
Bednarek referred to Stevens and McQuay as “best friends” and said if you see one of them in school, you’re likely to see the other one as well.
“We’ve been friends for a long time,” McQuay said. “When he told me he was coming here, I was happy. It brought a big boost to the team.
“He brings a big stick to the team. He brings confidence to the team. He definitely brings a lot to the team.”
Stevens’ sister Ce’Etter also attended Morton. She graduated in 2020 and is pursuing a master’s degree at Indiana.
“She was excited for me to come here and walk the same path she did,” Stevens said.
Stevens played JV basketball as a freshman and sophomore but decided not to participate this past season.
“I stopped playing basketball this year to focus on baseball because I noticed I was getting way more recognition in baseball than basketball,” he said. “Baseball has always been my No. 1 priority.”
High among the priorities for the Governors is their second straight conference title. With two sophomores and a freshman as their primary pitchers, they’ve been relying on their bats to power them.
“We have to win games by scoring a lot of runs,” Bednarek said. “Our offensive output has been the best since I’ve been here, and Michael has been the focal point of it. He’s hitting third every single day. He’s playing center field every single day.
“He came here for a better opportunity to play, and schoolwork-wise it was a better opportunity for him. I feel like he’s finally finding his place here. He’s comfortable here. He’s finally comfortable with me, and he’s most certainly comfortable with his teammates because they all hang out together and they all do a bunch of things together. He’s a great kid, and he’s one heck of a ballplayer.”
