Former Arizona State and Indiana pitching coach Brandon Higelin has joined the Arizona coaching staff, head coach Jay Johnson announced.
Higelin will serve as the Director of Player Development for the Wildcats. He replaces Jimmy VanOstrand, who recently accepted a job with the Seattle Mariners.
"We are very excited to add Brandon as our Director of Player Development,” head coach Jay Johnson said. “We feel fortunate to find someone as capable as him to replace Jimmy at this time of year. Brandon has a lot of really good skills and successful experience that will help push our program forward, and I am very excited to have him at Arizona."
Higelin comes to Tucson after spending two seasons as the pitching coach for Arizona State. There, he helped lead the Sun Devils to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, while coaching seven pitchers who were later drafted. In his second and final season at Arizona State, his staff posted a 4.19 ERA and Higelin saw every returning pitcher on the roster lower his ERA from the previous season.
At Arizona State, Higelin was responsible for player development of the pitching staff and assisted the head coach in developing and running baseball camps for high school students. He also traveled throughout the country to share his baseball knowledge and experience at various camps.
Before his two seasons at Arizona State, Higelin was the pitching coach at Indiana in 2014 and helped the Hoosiers qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The 2014 Hoosiers posted a staff ERA of 2.33, which was the school’s lowest in the aluminum bat era and seventh lowest in the nation. The Hoosiers pitching staff also had a 2.43 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a conference-best seven shutouts. He saw eight of his former pitchers go on to pitch professionally.
Prior to his season at Indiana, Higelin served as the manager of the Battle Creek Bombers in the Northwoods League; a prestigious collegiate summer league in 2012 and 2013. Higelin was also the pitching coach for the Bombers in 2011, and the pitching coach of the Poway Thunder in 2010.
From 2008-2013, Higelin also served as a private pitching instructor in Poway, California and worked with 35 players that played professionally, including Tyler Skaggs, Jerome Williams and Brett Tomko.
Before he entered the coaching profession, Higelin was an accomplished player. The left-handed pitcher was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 28th round of the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft out of Cal State Los Angeles. Higelin played in the Padres organization for four seasons, playing for the Eugene Emeralds, Fort Wayne Wizards and the Lake Elsinore Storm. He was a 2006 Midwest League All-Star with the Wizards. Higelin also pitched for the Gary SouthShore Railcats in 2008.
Higelin received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Ashford University in 2012. He was a member of the Dean’s List. He is originally from Glendale, California.
