Nathan
Quijas

Nathan Quijas, Highland High (CA), 2029
Positional Profile: SS/RHP A two-way profile with a quiet, direct swing and a gap-to-gap approach at the plate, backed with clean actions, and an accurate arm in the field. On the mound he's a repeatable right-hander with a linear delivery, a fastball with ASR, and feel for three secondaries that tunnel off it.
Body: 5-9, 161-pounds. Lenghty and wiry frame, room to fill.
Delivery: Athletic and repeatable delivery with a linear approach. Stays back well, taking the back hip toward the catcher. Good extension and gets over his front side.
Arm Action: RH. High front side with a shorter arm swing that allows him to get on top of the ball. High 3/4 slot.
FB: T79, 79-79 mph. Good ride up with arm-side run. Shows feel for the pitch in the zone. T2078, 1984 average rpm.
CB: 66-69 mph. Good horizontal movement, acting almost acting as a tight cutter. T1963, 1933 average rpm.
SL: 71-71 mph. Tight with strong feel for the zone. Tunnels well off the FB. T2019, 2019 average rpm.
CH: 67-67 mph. Flashed the CH with both fade and depth.
ATH: 7.59 runner in the 60. 1.73 and 4.13 in the 10 and 30 yard splits.

Nathan Quijas, Highland High (CA), 2029
Positional Profile: SS/RHP A two-way profile with a quiet, direct swing and a gap-to-gap approach at the plate, backed with clean actions, and an accurate arm in the field. On the mound he's a repeatable right-hander with a linear delivery, a fastball with ASR, and feel for three secondaries that tunnel off it.
Body: 5-9, 161-pounds. Lenghty and wiry frame, room to fill.
Hit: RHH. Tall and relaxed setup with a slightly open stance. A slight load as he hinges into his back hip, keeping the hands back behind the back foot. Hands fire straight to the ball with the head staying still. Direct lower half and catches the ball out front well, working gap-to-gap with a 60% hard-hit rate.
Power: 94 max exit velocity, averaged 88.0 mph. 296' max distance.
Arm: RH. INF-77 mph. Accurate arm, consistently hitting the first baseman's chest.
Defense: Showed his range on the dirt with a clean glove and smooth transfers.
ATH: 7.59 runner in the 60. 1.73 and 4.13 in the 10 and 30 yard splits.
Vizual Edge: 56.72 Edge Score

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.