Chicago Cubs: P.J. Higgins is tearing it up in Double-A

Chicago Cubs: Slashing his way through Conference USA

Long before he came onto the Cubs’ radar, Higgins was just a 20-year-old kid at Old Dominion, looking to make a name for himself in hopes of it leading to professional baseball. Three years later, that dream came true when Chicago selected him in the June draft.

As a freshman at Old Dominion, Higgins played in the infield and saw action in 41 games while compiling 113 at-bats. Impressively, he slashed .336/.380/.434 with a home run, 14 RBI, a .360 wOBA and an .814 OPS. Showing a keen eye for patience, Higgins struck out only 13 percent of the time.

In his sophomore campaign, Higgins worked his way into 62 games and saw 250 at-bats. While he did not hit a home run, Higgins still drove in 36 runs and slashed .308/.382/.368 with a .340 wOBA and .750 OPS. Remarkably, he also decreased his strikeout rate significantly, as Higgins struck out at a 7.64 percent clip.

His final year at Old Dominion was easily his best season. Higgins slashed a whopping .335/.402/.452 with a .373 wOBA, three home runs, 32 RBI, and a 5.84 percent strikeout rate. He also knocked 22 extra-base hits which became a career-high at Old Dominion and increased his ISO from .060 in his sophomore year to .117 in his junior year. It became apparent Higgins was starting to show put some things together in a big way.