By Christian Malone, Feb. 21, 2023
Cal Poly Pomona pitcher Rhys Stevens started off the 2023 season with a bang after being named California Collegiate Athletic Association Pitcher of the Week for his stellar performance in the season opener.
In the opening game of the series against the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs on Feb. 3, Stevens allowed just one hit in 5 1/3 innings while also striking out eight and walking two.
The Broncos won the game 4-0 before winning their three remaining games against UCCS, sweeping the series.
This game, however, is only the latest chapter in Stevens’ 16-year baseball career.
While Stevens, who is now a junior kinesiology student, comes from an athletic family, with his father previously playing professional rugby and his mother previously being a cheerleader, he said they “weren’t really a huge baseball family at all.”
Instead, watching professionals play at the top level is what inspired him to pick up the sport.
“I loved watching Evan Longoria,” Stevens said of the three-time All-Star third baseman. “He was on the Tampa Bay Rays for the longest time when he was still a rookie coming into his own a little bit, and he was my inspiration.”
Stevens began playing T-ball at age six in his hometown of Mission Viejo and spent years playing as an infielder at different levels of Little League but he did not stand out at the time.
It wasn’t until reaching the AAA level and later the Little League majors that he began to excel in the sport. After his final year in Little League, Stevens continued his journey by joining a travel baseball team.
Stevens played for three travel teams with most of his time being spent with the Saddleback Cowboys, who offered him experiences that would be instrumental in his development as a player.
“You can’t beat Little League, you know, because Little League is how you get into it,” Stevens said. “But travel ball was the main thing that helped me hone my skills and helped me mature as a baseball player and as a boy.”
Alongside honing his skills on the road, Stevens continued his development as a player at Capistrano Valley High School. It was during these years that the trajectory of his baseball career would change the most.
During his first two years, Stevens picked up and excelled at pitching while simultaneously noticing his batting abilities deteriorate. With his skillset changing and college recruitment on the horizon, Stevens had to make a difficult choice to dedicate himself to pitching for the rest of his baseball career.
“That was definitely a tough conversation because I’d been a position player for the longest time, and the fact that I wouldn’t be able to do that again was kind of sad,” Stevens said. “Ultimately, I had to make that decision if I wanted to continue my baseball career after high school, and I’m really happy I made that decision.”
For the remainder of his high school career, Stevens committed himself to pitching and proved powerful enough on the mound to be a starting pitcher for his high school team, drawing the eyes of college recruits.
Stevens began touring colleges late in his senior year of high school, including visits to schools who heavily pursued him in Cal State Northridge and Dartmouth College. After visiting CPP, however, Stevens described it as love at first sight.
“I remember walking out with my dad after the visit and saying ‘Hey, this is home,’” Stevens said. “This is everything I wanted in a college, in a baseball program and all that stuff.”
During his freshman year at CPP in 2020, Stevens played a major role in the team’s early games, posting a 2.83 ERA in his first five appearances. But when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the rest of the season through the 2021 season, Stevens had to fix course to continue his craft.
Unable to play at CPP but not wanting to miss out on a year of baseball, Stevens pitched for Saddleback College in 2021 before returning in 2022 for his second season with the Broncos. Unfortunately, however, his season was once again cut short — this time by an injury.
During his sixth appearance of the season, Stevens felt a numbness in his arm after throwing a pitch. After the game, he visited a hospital and found out that he sprained his UCL, one of the ligaments in his elbow, leading to a second lost season.
“Hearing that was a bit of a gut punch because they said that I’d probably be out for three, four, maybe even five months, and that was pretty much the majority of the season,” Stevens said.
Ultimately, Stevens could only attend physical therapy and continue practicing with the hope of playing in 2023. On Feb. 3, Stevens finally made his return to the Broncos with his explosive performance impressive enough to earn him the title of Pitcher of the Week.
“It’s a huge honor for sure,” Stevens said. “I love getting these things, and they just show how much hard work and dedication I put into my craft. And it motivates me even more going forward.”
After contributing to the Broncos’ sweep over UCCS, Stevens hopes to continue adding more wins to CPP’s record. As an individual, he hopes he can perform well enough to be recognized as Pitcher of the Year.
Most of all, however, Stevens hopes his performance can get him noticed by scouts in the upcoming draft.
“This is the prime year for me and a couple other guys who are draft hopefuls, so I hope that I get the opportunity,” Stevens said. “That would be everything to me.”
Stevens kept the ball rolling in the second week of the season as he struck out 10, walked two and allowed just two hits in the series opener against Colorado School of Mines. The Broncos went on to win that game 1-0 and won three out of the four games of the series.
With games against Biola University and Sonoma State on the horizon, Stevens has yet to give up a single run in 10 innings pitched. It’s safe to say that if his excellence on the mound continues, he could get the draft hype he desires.
Feature image by Carlos Leano