Brian Haggett will transfer from West Valley College to
Sacramento State for baseball
HOLLISTER
When making the leap from high school to collegiate-level baseball, former Haybaler Brian Haggett was forced to adapt and transition to a game where the players were a little better, the game was a little faster, and the competition was a little stronger.
Now, after signing a letter of intent last Monday to continue playing baseball at Sacramento State next season, Haggett will be forced to transition all over again, but it’ll be a transition he’ll gladly accept.
“I think I improved and took the next step from high school toward being a better player in all aspects of the game — the mental aspect as well,” said Haggett, who graduated from San Benito High in 2008 and has spent the last two years playing baseball at West Valley College in Saratoga.
“My goal was to play Division I baseball in California and I put my two years in at West Valley to get what I wanted — to play D-I baseball.”
Haggett certainly earned his chance after this past season when he batted .401 (61 of 152) for the Vikings — a hitting average that included a team-best 4 of 9 performance in the postseason — while his 61 total hits ranked ninth in the California Community College Athletic Association.
During the regular season, of which he earned his second straight second-team selection in the Golden Gate Conference, Haggett batted .396 (57 of 144), which was the fourth highest in the league, and finished the year with 10 doubles, two triples, one home run, 23 RBI, a .454 on-base percentage and just 11 strikeouts.
Also making a bit of a transition from second base to first while at West Valley — he played both positions in high school, but spent his junior and senior seasons at second — Haggett’s choice of Sac State was partly aided by his first-base position, where he recorded just three errors in 393 chances at West Valley this past season.
“I think they have their middle guys returning, but first base is an open position,” Haggett said of Sac State. “I feel like I have a pretty good chance of going in there and winning that spot.”
The Hornets, who are having a down year in the Western Athletic Conference with a 6-14 record, 17-32-1 overall, will undergo a changing-of-the-guard next season as John Smith will be stepping down after 32 years at the helm. Associate head coach Reggie Christiansen will be taking over after serving as the team’s hitting instructor, recruiting coordinator and third-base coach for the last two seasons.
“He’s a great hitting coach,” Haggett said of Christiansen, who was previously the head coach at South Dakota State. “He was the one who contacted me the earliest and who was talking to me throughout the season, so there was a lot of interest.”
Haggett also had offers from UC Davis, San Francisco State, Central Oklahoma State and Hawaii, but opted for the Sacramento school due to its close proximity, among other things.
While thanking West Valley (16-9, 21-17) hitting coach Rick Wiens, infield coach Jim Priscaro and head coach Josh Blunt, as well as SBHS manager Michael Luna, Haggett will make his next transition to the Division I level in the fall.
“Freshman year, in the first couple of games, the game is a lot quicker,” he said. “But after you get a couple of hits and start making a couple of plays, it feels pretty good.
“But this is gonna be another step up … I’ve just got to get used to it.”
