May 19, 2002

Reprinted with permission from the San Antonio Express-News, 4/19/02

by David King

In July 1999, Mike Huggins was playing in what he figured was his last baseball tournament.

He had graduated from Churchill in May, but baseball scholarship offers never materialized and he wasn't interested in playing football, despite interest from Colorado and Oklahoma State.

"It was one of those select tournaments, up in Dallas," Huggins said. "Coach (Mitch) Thompson just happened to be there and saw me play."

Thompson, assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Baylor, approached Huggins during a break and asked him where he was going to college. (Huggins , a second baseman at the time, had attracted his interest with his 6-foot-3 frame and solid, line-drive-hitter's swing.)

"I told him I hadn't gotten any offers," Huggins said.

"I wound up signing with them about 2 1/2 weeks before school started."

Turns out, he could play a little college baseball after all.

After a redshirt year, Huggins steadily has improved, to the point where the junior is in the top 10 in the Big 12 Conference in six offensive categories this season.

"We've had quite a number of success stories like his," Baylor coach Steve Smith said. "We've had several guys who weren't highly recruited, or guys who signed late."

And guys who could go to Baylor on academic scholarships, such as Huggins, a marketing major who is closing in on a degree.

One of the first moves Smith made was to move Huggins to first base, where his sore throwing arm would undergo less stress.

"He took to it so quickly that I was amazed," Smith said. "He picked it up from the get-go, and was very, very good pretty fast."

After his redshirt season, which he spent sitting in the dugout and traveling with the team, Huggins jumped into the starting lineup in 2000, hitting .312 in 60 games. Last year, he hit .307 in 57 contests.

In 2002, his average has jumped to .360, and a key stat for a first baseman, total bases, has soared as well. He had 21 doubles but just one triple and one homer last year, but in '02 he has nine doubles, nine triples and four home runs.

Those numbers have attracted some interest from pro scouts, especially after the Colorado Rockies picked him in the 25th round last year.

"He's got a good body," one scout said at a recent game. "But nowadays, first basemen have to hit with power, and that's a strike against him. He's a line-drive hitter, not a power hitter."

He has played left field and third base some during his time at Baylor, but he admits he's most comfortable at first base.

He also isn't worrying about his draft prospects, not with the Bears (27-13, 10-7 Big 12) aiming for their second conference title in three seasons and trying to reach the College World Series for the first time since 1978.

"I got to see a little of that process with the draft last year," Huggins said. "It was very, very interesting.

"But the way I look at it, I can't do anything about it. You can't control outside things like that anyway."

It just kind of has to happen - sort of like the way he wound up at Baylor.