Sahuarita Tutors

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One of Sahuarita High School’s former students benefitting from city tutoring has made it into the major leagues! He has been drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies baseball organization. Sati Santa Cruz was selected in the 32nd round of the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft.

This is the 2nd time that Santa Cruz has been picked. Two years ago he actually passed on several MLB teams when he was chosen towards the end of the draft because they were not offering lucrative enough signing bonuses. Showing wisdom beyond his years, instead Santa Cruz chose to hold out, and to play ball on a much lower profile at Central Arizona College in Coolidge. Student Santa Cruz did not give up on his dream. During this time he fine-tuned his skills, and while learning from city tutor’s he remained focused and was both ready and educated when the opportunity came back around.

Understandably Santa Cruz was elated by the news but felt overwhelmed. He has seen steady success in his career path. In his three years as pitcher with the Mustangs he had an ERA of 2.08 and was previously named to the 2014 AIA Division III All-Division team. Santa Cruz acknowledges the support of his community in achieving his success, but places the most thanks with his father for the unwavering support, and for giving him the opportunity. Very much a team player Santa Cruz admitted that he put his efforts towards the team’s success before his own immediate goals and was quite shocked by the pick. Especially as his past season had seen him only pitch 13 innings out of over 60 games.

An active member of the community, Santa Cruz was involved in local development work in a bid to simultaneously stay fit and to earn a few extra dollars. He was admiring the breathtaking mountain views while digging trenches at Quail Creek when his phone rang. Originally he did not pick up the call as he was focused on the task at hand. He had a break and checked the phone a few minutes later expecting a call from a friend or family member and instead picked up a message saying that he needed to get to a computer quickly. It was minutes later when he pieced together what was going on, and amidst multiple calls from friends congratulating him he picked up the best news of his career so far.