ESPN 98.1 FM / 850 AM WRUF ESPN 98.1 FM / 850 AM WRUF
If you ask Santa Fe College baseball coach Johnny Wiggs about the success his program has had in sending players to Division I, he’ll tell you it’s all about the players. Their wortk ethic, their mental toughness, their commitment to getting better and their raw talent.
But if you ask anyone else why Santa Fe has that reputation for sending players to the next level, he or she would give you a simple, two-word answer: Johnny Wiggs.
Wiggs, who will be inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame later this month, reached a pair of milestones this spring: winning both his 600th game at Santa Fe and the 800th of his career in a March 29 doubleheader. He has won nine of the school’s 11 Mid-Florida Conference titles and the Saints have reached the JUCO World Series twice: first in 2009, when they were the runner-up, and then again in 2016.
But his impact at the small college in northwest Gainesville just five miles from the University of Florida campus extends far beyond wins, accolades and stats.
“Obviously this place has had a great history of success and winning conference championships and going to the World Series,” Saints assistant coach Sage Rodefeld said. “But none of that was really done before coach Wiggs got here.”
Wiggs, a former Gators pitcher, is in his 19th season with the Saints. In that time, Wiggs has sent 177 players to four-year universities, according to the school. In addition, seven players have been selected in the Major League Baseball draft and two more have signed free-agency pro contracts after leaving Santa Fe.
Wiggs says he looks for two things from all his players: great competitors and great teammates.
“When I get that [type of player], then that’s the guy I really want to work with,” Wiggs said.
As much as Wiggs believes in his players, it’s the players’ belief in him that has driven the Saints’ consistent success.
This past season, Dejesus batted .338 and slugged .549 in his second year with Wiggs and the Saints. Dejesus, who committed to play at West Florida next season, credits Wiggs with the success former Saints have had at the next level.
Some notable players who have played for Wiggs at Santa Fe have been current and former major leaguers Ryan Yarbrough, Brad Lord, Keon Broxton and Mallex Smith. That group also includes former Florida Gators players Tyler Shelnut and Armando Albert, who started their collegiate careers at Santa Fe. Pitcher Matthew Jenkins joined the Gators this season after his freshman year with the Saints, when he had a 4.74 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 57 innings.
The common theme: Wiggs will push players to get the most out of their talent.
“At first, he was tough,” said Albert, who appeared in 40 games for the Saints in 2021. “I kind of thought, ‘Damn, I’m not gonna like this guy.’ Now, I love Wiggs. We have a really good relationship.
“When you understand coaching, it’s all out of love, and he just wants to see you get better.”
Yarbrough, who now pitches for the New York Yankees, is one of two former Saints in the majors, along with Lord (Washington Nationals).
But as a freshman with the Saints, Yarbrough posted a 7.79 ERA in 17 1/3 mop-up innings.
“He wasn’t very good, but he was a worker,” Wiggs said. “He was a guy that really worked every single day.”
That work paid dividends quickly. After his disappointing freshman year, Yarbrough went 8-1 with a 2.15 ERA as a sophomore, earning first-team All-Conference and second team All-State honors. He then transferred to Old Dominion, where he pitched for two years before getting drafted in the fourth round of the 2014 draft by the Seattle Mariners. He also has pitched for the Rays, Royals, Dodgers and Blue Jays over the course of his eight-year MLB career.
It starts with his recruiting process, according to his players.
Santa Fe sophomore infielder Griffin Sorrow said Wiggs recruits high schoolers heavily, instead of players who have been cut from D-I rosters, like many other junior college coaches do. The high schoolers come in with the expectation to play their two years at the JUCO level before moving onto a four-year institution.
“It builds accountability, so the older guys can tell the freshmen, ‘Hey, we don’t show up two minutes late to workouts,’” said Sorrow, who hit .301 with a .428 on-base percentage in his second season at Santa Fe. ‘“We show up 15 minutes before workouts,’ or stuff like that — that sets a precedent in the team and the culture.”
Rodefeld, meanwhile, also has UF ties. He worked for the Gators baseball team as a student manager in 2021, then as the head student manager in 2022-23 before taking on the role of a baseball operations intern for the 2024 season. From there, he graduated from UF with a degree in sport management in 2024 before starting as assistant coach for Santa Fe this past year.
He’s spent a lot of time within a championship-caliber program at UF, so he’s seen the real deal of talent, both in players and coaches.
“Coach Wiggs treats these guys like pros.”
As a player, Wiggs started his college baseball career at Valencia Community College before he transferred to Santa Fe one year later. The former pitcher went 9-4 for the Saints in his sophomore season. Then, he went on to don the orange and blue.
In his two seasons pitching for the Gators, he had a 23-6 record and earned all-SEC honors his junior year (1988). The Gators won the SEC championship that year before making their first appearance in the College World Series.
Wiggs went on to play five seasons professionally, climbing to Triple-A for the Mariners, Tigers and Red Sox organizations. He ended his professional career with a 3.41 ERA, throwing 292 career innings, winning 17 games and saving 22.
He now passes along invaluable insight and knowledge he gained in — professional baseball to the players he coaches.
“I’ve talked to some of our current players, some of our past players, and and all of them pretty much said that they came to Santa Fe just because they want to play for coach Wiggs,” Rodefeld said. “They knew that [if] they come to play for him for two years, he’s going to get them ready for the next level.”
“He cares about these players like they’re his kids,” Rodefeld said. “He cares about us like we’re in his family.”
Sorrow and Dejesus agreed. Wiggs is the type of coach who supports his players, one who pushes them on and off the field. He holds his players accountable, challenges them and calls them out when needed.
While Wiggs has a competitive fire and wants to win, he goes beyond adjusting his players’ swings and tweaking their batting stances — he turns his players into good men.
“He develops people more than baseball players,” Sorrow said.
The Saints finished the 2025 season with a 24-26 record, going 15-18 in conference play. It was the Saints’ first losing season in Wiggs’ career and the school’s first since 2006. That’s 18 straight seasons of winning baseball.
Although he may still credit anyone but himself, Wiggs is the driving force behind the success of Santa Fe College baseball.
“He truly is a better person than he is a coach,” Rodefeld said. “And he’s a Hall of Fame coach.”
