After turning down the New York Mets out of high school, lefthander Jake Higginbotham came to Clemson with high expectations for himself.
However, his collegiate baseball career was put on hold when he suffered a stress fracture in his throwing elbow on April 23, 2016, the later part of his freshman year.
Days after that, head coach Monte Lee announced Higginbotham was going to undergo surgery which would require a screw to be placed in his arm. The Tigers’ were hopeful Higginbotham would be able to return for the 2017 season, but unfortunately he was not able to.