Higgins on Hot Streak as Sun Devil : Former Torrance High Star Takes JC Route to Arizona State

Arizona State’s Kevin Higgins decided to impersonate a teammate this week. Why Higgins would want to be anyone but himself is a mystery.

Higgins, a .450 lifetime hitter at Torrance High who set five records at Harbor College--including most career hits and career runs batted in--leads the Pac-10 Conference-Southern Division in hits and runs scored through last weekend’s games.

In 51 games at ASU, he batted .371, became the first junior college transfer in ASU history to be named co-captain and earned the nickname, Mr. Sun Devil, for “doing everything the way it’s supposed to be done,” according to ASU Coach Jim Brock.

The case of mistaken identity occurred when a television station from Waco, Texas, came to ASU to spotlight five Sun Devils who had played at the same junior college in Waco.

One, left fielder Ricky Candelari, couldn’t make the taping, so Candelari’s friend, Higgins, stepped in and claimed he was Candelari.

“He brought out his best Texas accent and was Ricky Candelari for a day,” Candelari said, chuckling.

A reverse replacement--Candelari for Higgins, or anybody for Higgins--is out of the question, said Candelari.

“It would be the biggest loss to this team if we lost Kevin,” he said. “That would be the worst thing. He is the nucleus of this team.”

The marriage of Higgins and Arizona State, the nation’s No. 3-ranked team, occurred almost by accident. Three years ago, rules violations reduced the amount of aid available to incoming baseball players and forced Arizona State to forgo recruiting high school seniors in favor of junior college standouts who would require less aid in shorter tenures at the school. Higgins was the 1987 JC choice for second base, and ASU has been recruiting JC players for every position.

Last week, however, eight high school seniors signed letters of intent to play at Arizona State.

That pleases Brock. “It’s hard for me to believe we can get by with the JC kids,” he said, “and it’s hard to believe that there are more than a few Kevin Higgins floating around out there.”

Despite the necessity of recruiting JC players, Brock said landing Higgins, a 5-11, 175-pound left-handed hitter, also posed financial snags. Higgins was told that he’d be forced to fund a part of his education, which worried Higgins’ father.

But seeing his father worry about having to make sacrifices, Brock said Higgins turned to his father, and said, “Dad, I won’t eat much.”

And now, “everything is panning out perfectly for me,” Higgins said. “Coming out of Harbor, I was a little skeptical because I had never played against the kind of competition you get in this league, but I’m pleased with what’s gone on here.”

Any skepticism the Arizona State coaches had when they recruited Higgins dissolved last summer when he became the only JC player to garner all-star status in an amateur Alaskan league.

Add to that his 8 home runs, 45 RBI and 7 game-winning hits in 51 games this season and it’s easy to understand why he has been accepted in his role as co-captain.

Early in the season, the Sun Devils (43-8) climbed to second in the national rankings, but a six-game losing skid sent them reeling to 24th. That was 23 games--and 23 wins--before Higgins became a co-captain.

“When we went into our nose dive,” said Brock, “it was apparent that Kevin was one part of the solution and not one part of the problem.”

That much was clear a couple of weeks ago with Higgins batting, two out and two runners on base in the bottom of the eighth inning of a 7-7 clash with defending national champion Stanford. Higgins cracked a hanging slider over the right-center-field fence and ASU went on to win.

“My most memorable game so far,” Higgins said. “But I’m not a guy who knows they’re (home runs) when I hit them. I’m a line-drive hitter who hits to all fields, and if I keep doing that, sometimes I’ll make a mistake and hit one out. They’re all accidents.”

In high school, Higgins was more accustomed to hitting for power.

“I knew he would hit .300 or better wherever he went,” said Torrance Athletic Director John Radcliffe, who coached baseball at Torrance from 1968 to 1981.

“He had great hands, great bat speed and could really hit the long ball,” Radcliffe said.

Higgins moved from catcher to second base at Harbor, where he became more of a spray hitter and complete player, the kind Harbor Coach Jim O’Brien doesn’t see often.

“At the JC level, we get a lot of one-dimensional players,” said O’Brien. “We get guys who can just field or just hit or guys with speed, but Kevin does them all. Other than his tobacco chewing habit, he is an outstanding person who stays out of trouble and is just there to play ball.”

Higgins was also a captain at Harbor. He was named a JC all-American, received the most votes for all-state honors of any infielder in the state and was drafted in the fifth round by the Detroit Tigers after his first year.

O’Brien said Higgins’ dedication to the game indicates he should play professional baseball. But that’s where Higgins identity isn’t as pronounced.

One local pro scout, who asked that his name and team not be identified, said Higgins has below-average speed and is not as quick as he needs to be to play the middle infield. The scout saw Higgins play at Torrance and at Harbor.

An Arizona-based scout, who also asked for anonymity, said Higgins was the best hitter at Arizona State. But when asked if his major league club would be interested, the scout said: “I would say not. We’re looking for the mold of infielder who runs much better than Kevin does. He also seems like a weak defensive player.

“We want people who can really run, and other teams place a different emphasis on that. Some emphasize hitting.

“Still, I am not wise enough to count him out. If he continues to hit the way he has, he’ll play for someone. If he doesn’t hit, he won’t have a shot at all. He is not a great athlete, not the type who can run, throw and do a lot of things.”

Statistically, speed does not seem to have hampered Higgins. At Harbor, he stole 30 bases in 39 attempts, and at ASU he has nine steals in 13 attempts.

Brock, however, agrees that Higgins’ speed is only average. Brock disagrees about Higgins’ defensive abilities.

The odds of Higgins returning to play his senior season at ASU, Brock said, are 50-50 or better, meaning Brock sees Higgins’ chances of signing a lucrative pro contract this summer as 50-50 or worse.

“Sometimes I tell a kid he is making a mistake to go pro (after his junior year),” Brock said, “but I wouldn’t tell that to Kevin because I think he can survive.”

It’s likely Higgins will be drafted but not offered much money. As a result, he’ll have to produce immediately or face his release.

“He needs to protect himself,” Brock said, “and another year of college would probably get him a degree, which would be good.”

Higgins noted that speed has always been his question mark but discounted the significance of what he labeled his average speed. “What good is all that speed if you don’t get on base?” he asked.

Higgins added that having his ability second-guessed is something he enjoys.

“If somebody is patting you on the back all the time, it’s tough to get yourself going, “ he said. “I like to be doubted. All my life I’ve been doubted. I’m doing a lot of things here that people didn’t think I could do.”

Including impersonations.