Baseball:

Currently I play baseball and basketball, and I plan to pursue playing baseball in college. My goal in baseball is to support my team whether I play corner infield or pitch. When I play corner infield, I like playing third base to show off reaction time and arm strength. At first base, I enjoy challenging myself picking the short throws and making my infielders look better. As a pitcher, I like having control of the game, and I enjoy having the pressure on me. Although I have several pitches to choose from including fastball, slider, 12-6 curveball, and change up I prefer pitching the 12-6 curveball since it was the first pitch my grandpa taught me (former pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers). Because of my height and strength, I can drive the baseball and force pressure on to the other team. One of my best strengths is my mental poise. While on the field I try to show as little emotion as possible, and I try to think of the game as a business trip. I try not to one up my teammates or showboat them, but instead I like to encourage them and help them improve on their skills if asked. I like talking to my coaches all the time whether it be about in game situations or ways to improve our program and facility. For example, this summer the coaches and I gathered majority of the team and completely re-did our baseball facility. This brought the team closer together showing passion for our team and unity. In the high school season, my most proud moment was making first team all-region position player and second team all-region pitcher, an achievement that I had visualized pre-season. One reason I have continued to play the game with love and passion has been my grandpa accepting a position as the pitching coach for my high school team.

Family:

Born and raised in Phoenix, I have always been around competitive baseball. Since I was little, my parents Michael and Shannon played catch with me and took me to spring training games (where I was a batboy for the Padres and Mariners), ultimately developing my love for the game. My sister Maddy is a senior varsity volleyball player at the same high school as me. She has recently been accepted to ASU and is planning on attending their Honors College. My sister and I have always been close friends and enjoy hanging out with each other on the weekends. I am close with my grandparents who recently moved to AZ, and I have a great core group of friends that I’ve been friends with for six years.

Other things about me:

Something that has always been a principle for my family is to always try new things, travel and giving back to the community. For instance, it was my dad’s goal to have me learn how to ride a bike, swim, and ski by the time I was four years old, and he was successful. To this day I enjoy going on annual ski trips with the family and traveling to new places. Other interests including hiking (recently summited highest point in AZ at over 12K ft) and stay agile by playing pickleball with my dad, even won gold in a recent doubles tournament. Volunteering is also important to me as my family and I are active with The Salvation Army and Feed My Starving Children organizations.

Majors that interest me in college would be business and medical because learning about how things operate in business intrigues me as well as being able to make things better than they were before. I think sometimes people may think of me as serious and focused, but I do enjoy goofing around with my family and friends.