Nathan
Quijas

With the returning starter for Highland transferring before the start of the spring season, the premium spot on the diamond opened up for the talented freshmen, and he appears to have grabbed hold of it. The frame itself is youngish looking at 5’9 150ish lbs., but you can see the sound athletic ability of Quijas in how he moves at SS and in the RH batter's box. He is comfortable moving laterally and downhill with soft hands, rhythm in his footwork, and his arm shows the future potential to stick at the spot. During the game, he handled all his opportunities comfortably, including a nifty diving play with runners at 2nd and 3rd to save one run from scoring and record the 2nd out of the inning. At the plate, he controls his at-bats well, hitting in the leadoff spot with good pitch recognition, staying inside the strike zone on quality pitches each time he pulled the trigger to swing on the day. The hands work well with a direct path and leverage through the zone that projects to a higher hit with a doubles power profile than one that will be geared towards home run power, which should suit him just fine in the long run. All in all, the first look at Quijas was a strong one, and while, like any young player in high school baseball, there is plenty of polish still ahead to his profile, the foundation of skills he has to build makes him a strong name to keep eyes on in the coming years.