EAST LANSING, Mich. (WILX) \u2014 Nolan Higgins, a pitcher from Wixom who spent four seasons at Michigan State University, was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the fifth round of the MLB Draft.<\/p>\n
Higgins graduated from Michigan State this spring and spent the weeks before the draft traveling the country for workouts with Major League clubs. He received the call from the Blue Jays midway through the fifth round.<\/p>\n
\u201cHalfway through the fifth round, he called me again and said, \u2018Yeah, sounds like they\u2019re locking you in there,\u2019\u201d Higgins said. \u201cSo, yeah, congrats, man. I\u2019ll call you later. And I mean, that right there just didn\u2019t even feel real, and I mean, I\u2019m still fully trying to wrap my head around it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Higgins\u2019 former Michigan State head coach, Jake Boss Jr., said the selection did not come as a surprise.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo watch his maturity from his freshman year to last year where he really turned into one of the better leaders that we\u2019ve ever had here,\u201d Boss said. \u201cJust really thrilled for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boss said Higgins developed into one of the Spartans\u2019 most reliable pitchers over his four seasons in East Lansing. Higgins credited the coaching staff with helping him reach the professional level.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the coaching staff at Michigan State,\u201d Higgins said. \u201cJust all the ups and downs kind of got me to where I\u2019m at. Between Coach Boss, Coach Van Ameyde, those guys really wanted to see me succeed, and they kind of just put me in the best position to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Higgins said he is now in Florida beginning his professional career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just going to go in there and just put my head down to the grindstone and just kind of work really hard,\u201d Higgins said. \u201cThey\u2019ve reached out to me a little bit. I\u2019ve heard from a bunch of resources of theirs, and they want what\u2019s best for me, and they\u2019re going to try to help me get to that as easy as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Higgins said a shift in mindset during his college career helped him reach this point.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I stopped looking for shortcuts and really tried to just get better each day, build that consistency, that made it way more attainable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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