Anthony Claggett concluded his second season as the pitching coach for the Aggies in May of 2019.
Claggett, a former MLB pitcher, has been part of a historic four year stretch that has seen the Aggies collect 147 wins the past four seasons. That stretch also includes four straight nationally recognized recruiting classes.
Claggett, who pitched in the major leagues with the New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates, helped lead the Aggies to a 38-17 mark in 2019 and the programs second ever WAC Regular Season Championship - the first since 2012. The 38 wins was the fifth most in a single-season in program history and included a notable win on the road at Arizona on April 30, giving the program their first win against the Wildcats since 2012.
On the mound, the pitching staff, led by Claggett, had all three weekend starters reach eight wins or more, led by junior Chance Hroch. Hroch put together one of the best seasons by an Aggie starting pitcher in program history. Hroch finished the season one win shy of the school record with a 10-1 mark and a 2.74 ERA in 15 starts while earning first team All-Conference accolades. The ten wins are tied for the second most in a single-season in program history and the 2.74 ERA is the ninth best in one season in school history. The 2.66 career ERA for Hroch is the second best in school history. Claggett succesffuly helped guide Hroch through the transition from reliever his first two years in college to a starter in 2019. Hroch will spend the 2019 summer pitching for Brewster in the prestigous Cape Cod League.
Meanwhile, 2019 WAC Preseason Pitcher of the Year Brock Whittlesey compiled an 8-2 record while moving from closer in 2018 to team ace in 2019. Fellow weekend starter Justin Dehn completed his career with an impressive record of 9-3. The nine wins for Dehn were tied for the third most by an Aggie pitcher since 2011.
Under Claggett's tutelage, NM State pitching collected four complete game shutouts, led by Hroch with two, and limited opponents to 239 walks with 431 strikeouts.
Off the field, the program earned the NM State Athletics Community Service Award for the fourth straight year in 2019 and set the program attendance record for the fourth time since 2015. The program has accumulated over 6,000 hours of Community Service since head coach Brian Green took over the program.
In 2018, Claggett coached a pitching staff that propelled NM State to a 40-22 overall record, a 17-7 mark in Western Athletic Conference play, the first WAC Tournament title in program history and just the fourth Regional appearance in the history of the program.
2018 marked just the second time in program history in which the team recorded 40 wins and reached an NCAA Regional.
Along the way in 2018, NM State shattered three team records and five individual records. NM State established new single-season team records in strikeouts (537), hit by pitch (119) and team fielding percentage (.977). Individually, Kyle Bradish broke the school record for strikeouts in a season (140), Jonathan Groff broke the record for wins (11), Brock Whittlesey broke the saves record (12), Tristen Carranza was hit by a program record 21 pitches and Caleb Henderson set a new school record for games played (62).
NM State placed seven players on the All-Conference list at the end of the Regular Season with three players claiming All-American honors. Groff became the first conference pitcher of the year in program history while Nick Gonzales earned WAC Freshman of the Year honors, the first Aggie to receive the honor in the schools history in the WAC.
Groff, Bradish and Gonzales all captured All-American honors. Groff earned Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Second Team All-American honors while Bradish was named a Third Team All-American by Perfect Game/Rawlings.
Meanwhile, Gonzales captured Freshman All-American honors from three different publications (Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, NCBWA and Perfect Game/Rawlings).
In June of 2018, Bradish became the highest drafted player in program history when the Los Angeles Angels selected him in the fourth round (121 overall). Bradish became the third Aggie since 2016 to be drafted in the top six rounds.
Claggett spent 2017 as a volunteer assistant coach for the San José State University baseball program. Claggett helped Spartans pitching coach, Dean Stiles, with pitching development and served as the first base coach.
While at San José State, Claggett helped lead the pitching staff to finish third in the Mountain West Conference in earned run average (6.13). The former reliever also helped Josh Goldberg finish second in the conference in saves (6).
Two of Claggett’s former players went on to get selected in the 2017 MLB Draft. The Cleveland Indians selected Josh Nashed in the 19th round and the San Francisco Giants took Matt Brown in the 27th round. The pair were the first Spartans drafted since 2013.
Prior to his stint with San José State, Claggett spent time at Riverside Community College. He served as the Tiger’s pitching coach and assistant recruiting coordinator in 2016.
With Claggett’s help, Riverside CC finished with a record of 25-18 in a year where they reached the second round of the California Community College Athletic Association Regional Playoffs. While coaching for the Tiger’s, Claggett also led the pitching staff to finish third out of 88 teams in the CCCAA in ERA (2.83).
For the 2015 season, Claggett was the pitching coach for the New Jersey Jackals of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball league. The Jackals had the best staff ERA in the Can-Am League and reached the championship round.
The pitching staff for the Jackals, under Claggett’s tenure, finished third in wins, second in strikeouts and had three of the top four individual ERA’s in the league.
Claggett started his coaching career in 2014 at the College of the Desert serving as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for the Roadrunners.
An 11th round draft pick in 2005 by the Detroit Tigers, Claggett made his major league debut in 2009 with the World Series Champion New York Yankees. Claggett also spent time with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
His 11-year professional playing career includes seven minor league seasons where he posted 35 wins and 39 saves.
In 2006, MiLB.com named him Minor League Class A Relief Pitcher of the Year. Pitching for the West Michigan Whitecaps, the right-hander posted an ERA of 0.91 over 59 1/3 innings and finished with a record of 7-2 and 14 saves.
Claggett received his bachelor's degree in business management from the University of Phoenix in 2015.
He began his college career at UC Riverside and played three seasons for the Highlanders as a middle infielder and relief pitcher.
