Sahuarita High School standout Nathan Huie has been exposed to baseball all of his life with his father Bryan an area New York Yankees scout and owner and player development director of the elite training organization Baseball’s Next Level.
It’s only natural that college recruiters and scouts have attended games and workout sessions to observe Nathan’s growth, but that’s because of the younger Huie’s skills, not because his dad insisted they take a look.
“That makes me feel uncomfortable when I am asked to give a scouting report on my son,” said Bryan Huie, who is also the principal at Mission Manor Elementary School. “Nathan has earned everything he’s worked for at this point. I don’t want to make it a thing in which I look like I’m campaigning for him.”
The elder Huie does not need to be concerned about that.
Nathan Huie lets his bat as a switch-hitter and talent at first base and third base do the talking.
The Class of 2024 prospect stands at 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds. He projects to be 6-3 and 220 pounds, the size of a linebacker, by the time he graduates from Sahuarita. At that time, he can establish himself as one of the top sluggers this area as produced.
.@SahuaritaB Class of 2024 prospect Nathan Huie is the son of Baseball’s Next Level owner/development director Bryan Huie, who is also an area scout with the New York Yankees. The elder Huie is the principal at Mission Manor Elementary School as well. https://t.co/VinsICS9gg pic.twitter.com/XdqE603Z7x
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) January 15, 2022
“I’m going to continue to work every day, lift every day,” Nathan said. “That’s pretty much what I do after every game to get stronger and faster. Hopefully, I’ll get taller. I will just continue to work.”
Nathan and Sahuarita took part in the Chip Hale Baseball Camps MLK Team Camp this weekend at Hi Corbett Field and the adjacent Reid Park annex fields.
The event was organized by the Arizona baseball program with the hope prospects in the region (mostly in Arizona and California) like what they see in the skills teaching of Hale and his staff and also the facilities at Hi Corbett Field.
Unfortunately for Hale and Co., Nathan has already made up his mind where he wants to play in college. He committed to Arkansas in October.
Arizona recruited him along with Tennessee, Texas Tech, San Diego State and San Diego until he attended Arkansas’ Skills Camp that included scrimmages of young prospects earlier in the fall.
Huie belted two moon-shot home runs and Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn let him know before leaving Fayetteville that he wanted him in a Razorback uniform.
Trips to Texas Tech and Tennessee were canceled after the Huies liked the scholarship Van Horn offered.
“He can’t stop working now, that’s for sure,” Bryan Huie said of the commitment. “We’ve kind of turned Page One of that book of who knows, a 400-page book. We’ve got to continue to grind and continue to get better because Arkansas is one of the most elite programs in the country year in and year out.
“I know what it takes to play at that level. We’ve just got to continue to grind and I think he’s gonna have a really good two years before he heads off to college.”
The elder Huie has an Arkansas background.
A Marana Mountain View graduate, he pitched for Westark Community College in Fort Smith, Ark., before heading to Lubbock Christian. He played professionally in the Seattle Mariners organization..
He was born in Indio, Calif,, and spent some of his childhood years near Little Rock, Ark. Some his family members still reside in that area and Nathan and his sister Alyssa have spent vacations there with Bryan and their mom Lizette.
“I’m very blessed to have this opportunity to commit this early,” Nathan said about his decision to play for the Razorbacks, whose new state-of-the-art baseball facility is one of the best in the nation. “I’m grateful to Arkansas and all of the other schools who had interest.
“I’m going to continue to work. Just because I committed doesn’t mean I’m there yet. I need to keep going until I’m able to play there.”
Nathan recently took part in a Prep Baseball Report preseason skills assessment camp at Cienega High School, and it was reported by PBR that he arguably took the best batting practice rounds and “possesses a large frame with strength and a good feel for his barrel.”
Congratulations to BNL’S
own Nathan Huie 1B/3B (2024) on his commitment to play for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks. Congratulations to his family and his Sahaurita High School baseball
coaches. GO BNL! @SahuaritaB pic.twitter.com/YjzfgizEhY— Baseball’sNextLevel (@BaseballsNextL) October 27, 2021
“Huie has the ability to let balls get deeper than the average hitter at his age,” the report stated. “We’ve seen him use the whole field in the past, and now the pull side power is starting to show. Huie left the yard multiple times in BP with a max distance of 345 feet.
“Defensively, we have seen large improvements from Huie’s foot and glove work. He is starting to understand hops and the hands are working softly. While Huie’s athleticism keeps progressing, we could see a corner infielder with big pop who understands hitting.”
The elder Huie said Nathan started to get noticed by recruiters this fall at a Colorado Rockies tournament in Denver with the BNL scout team. More college coaches inquired about him after watching him play in the Arizona Senior Fall Classic at Peoria in early October.
“He played on our scout team this fall, where we play all the junior colleges, and something just clicked with him,” Bryan Huie said. “He just started getting better and better on the field, even though he had been in the weight room for the last year and did what he needed to do there. But everything for him really started to transition onto the field this fall.”
The elder Huie was 6-2 and 205 as a southpaw at Class A Everett (Wash.) in 2000.
Nathan is weight training to gain 20 pounds more than his father’s playing weight because of his power-hitting prowess.
Through it all, he is trying to stay humble at such a young age.
“When I was about 11 or 12 years old, I didn’t even make the all-star team for my Little League,” Nathan said. “I went on to BNL and they were tremendous. The coaches are amazing and they are a big part of my success.”
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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