Francisco Juarez fell in love with baseball at three years old but it wouldn't be until middle school where he began mastering the art of pitching.

"I used to only be first base and outfield," Juarez said. "Probably by my seventh-grade year just from there on it kind of took off being a big pitcher."

Juarez is a three-year letterman at Pioneer High School, boasting an ERA just under 3.00 in his junior and senior seasons, according to MaxPreps.

"He comes out here and gets his work done for his [fielding] position and then his [pitching]," Diamondbacks head coach Adrian Leal said. "If he has to stay after practice and get an extra bullpen or he got to work on his mechanical stuff so he's willing to go the extra mile and he's been that way since he got here."

What sticks out the most is his high character and demeanor on and off the diamond. Traits that were instilled in him by his parents.

"He's going to shake everybody's hands," Coach Leal said. "Extremely friendly and is a very likeable person and a good teammate."

"I'm really thankful for my parents," Juarez said. "They shaped me to the person I am and I've impacted so many people."

On April 1, Juarez signed to play baseball at Nelson University, a program he says is known for developing players.

"They said that they're going to develop me as a player," Juarez said. "Some things I need to fix they'll fix it and give me one or two years to take me to a big D1 program."

Juarez's baseball future is already set, but for now his attention shifts to a third straight trip to the playoffs with Pioneer. He's looking to help the Diamondbacks get back to the state tournament for the first time since 2019.

"Seeing that [2019 state tournament] sign over there, it actually means that I want to do that," he said. "I want to be up there, and I want them to know that me and my team we did that."

CHANNEL 5 SPORTS is highlighting high school senior athletes on our Playmaker of the Week segment every Wednesday on CHANNEL 5 NEWS at 10.