Arbor View shortstop Nick Quintana looks toward MLB draft
Arbor View senior Nick Quintana will walk across the stage at the Thomas & Mack Center on June 10 as a high school graduate.
If he seems a bit happier than the average student on that day, it just won’t be from his current situation. It probably means he was an early selection in the Major League Baseball draft the day before.
“It would be a good graduation present,” said Quintana, smiling.
The MLB Draft airs at 4 p.m. PDT on June 9 on the MLB Network and MLB.com. The first two rounds are televised, and rounds 3-40 appear online the following two days.
Quintana, a 5-foot-10-inch, 190-pound shortstop, is rated 64th overall among draft-eligible players by Perfect Game USA. He is the No. 77 prospect in Baseball America’s Top 100 draft rankings, which includes college and high school players.
Based on those rankings, Quintana, an Arizona commit, theoretically would be taken in the second or third round.
“I’d take him in the first round,” Arbor View coach Gary White said. “I see him in the big leagues for 10 years.”
White, who played catcher at UNLV from 1976 to 1980, has been around the game long enough to give an honest evaluation of Quintana. He was an assistant coach at UNLV for five seasons and a longtime scout for four MLB clubs, totaling 27 years.
“He is a coach’s dream,” White said. “He does everything that I ask of him, and he’s just fun to be around. He’s a great kid. Whatever organization, or if he goes to Arizona, he’ll be a plus for those programs. …
“His best leverage is if he gets (selected) in a first, second, third round — take the money and start your professional career. He wants to play professional baseball.”
Quintana is hitting .403 and leads Southern Nevada in home runs with 10. He also is tied for second in RBIs with 33 and has drawn 14 walks.
“Nick is a special talent,” White said. “He’s in a class by himself. The intangibles, the character, the work ethic. That’s going to be a plus for him because that’s where he’s above any comparison that I’ve seen in a high school kid that got drafted early.”
Quintana, a two-time all-state selection, insists he doesn’t have a cutoff period in the draft after which he would go to college, but acknowledged it would “definitely be a joy to hear my name, especially on TV.”
“I tell all the scouts and everyone that talks to me, ‘I’m signable,’” Quintana said. “I never want to give off that vibe that, ‘If it’s not after this or before this, then I’m going to Arizona.’ I always just tell them I’m signable, and that’s what I believe.”
He doesn’t see any roadblocks, either, particularly in the form of a contract dispute.
“If you’re passionate about baseball, and you work hard at it and you’re the best at what you do, the money will come,” Quintana said. “There’s no need to jeopardize what your career could possibly be over the money value.”
Quintana already knows about the process. His brother, Zach, was a third-round pick by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2012 draft and currently plays for the Carolina Mudcats, a High-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves.
Though many rate him as one of the top high school players in the country, Nick Quintana doesn’t put much stock into rankings or hearsay. He just wants to play baseball.
“It’s funny to me because I feel like those type of players — it’s just so in their head,” he said. “Like ‘I’m just the best person alive.’ But I don’t think you can say that until you’ve played the best of the best.”
And he’s ready to start.
“My ultimate goal is to get (to the big leagues), never leave and play as long as I possibly can,” he said.
Contact reporter Ashton Ferguson at aferguson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0430. Follow him on Twitter: @af_ferguson
