PEORIA, Ariz.–Fernando Perez will be moving schools again, but he's already proven he's up to the challenge.

The third baseman from Otay Ranch High in Chula Vista, Calif., said he has enough credits to graduate early and will be enrolling at Central Arizona JC in January.

"I really want to challenge myself," Perez said. "So I want to go there and play with older guys and wood bats and the longer season."

Perez will share the left side of the diamond with an old friend. Central Arizona's shortstop, Jorge Flores, is also from Mexico and he and Perez played together when they were younger.

Changing schools and challenging himself is nothing new for Perez.

Originally from Ensenada, Mexico, Perez first started playing baseball when he was 8 years old. He said he comes from a baseball family–his father and uncle played semi-pro baseball in Mexico.

Perez's uncle knew Fernando had baseball talent and suggested that he move from Mexico to Southern California to live with him to get a better education and more exposure as a player.

After convincing his father that he was up for the challenge of learning a new language, Perez moved in with his uncle in the spring of 2010, for his sophomore season.

Perez did not speak any English when he moved to the U.S. but is fluent now.

"It was really hard," he said of the initial adjustment. "But what really helped me was summer ball. I play with the San Diego Show and my teammates didn't speak any Spanish, so they helped me out and I had to speak English for them to understand me and stuff."

Playing for Trosky Baseball at the Arizona Senior Fall Classic, Perez has an athletic build at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds. He has a smooth lefthanded swing with good bat speed and developing power. He shows solid actions at third base, a strong arm and is a fringe-average runner.

He joins a handful of other top high school players graduating early to enroll in college, though his situation is different because he'll still be draft-eligible in 2012 because he'll be at a junior college. The situation is also different than what Bryce Harper did two years ago because he's not graduating early so that he'll be draft-eligible a year earlier—Perez would have been draft eligible either way this year.

Arizona Anecdotes

• Righthander Carson Kelly from Westview High in Portland was 88-91 mph in his first inning on the mound Saturday afternoon, topping out at 92. He mixed in a sharp 75-78 mph curveball and flashed a 79 mph changeup. Despite the impressive repertoire, he got squared up a few times by the Bayside Yankees from New York.

• Righthander Ryan Burr from Highlands Ranch (Colo.) High had an outing to forget on Thursday when he was sitting 85-88 mph. His second trip to the mound was better velocity-wise at 90-91, but he was all over the place. Innings at this event are three outs or six batters, whichever comes first. Burr's two-inning outing on Saturday went like this: walk, walk, walk, strikeout, hit batter, strikeout … strikeout, hit batter, walk, walk, single, walk. Burr's delivery was out of sync today. A stab and wrist wrap in the back of his delivery and the fact that he was landing on his heel made it difficult for him to throw consistent strikes. Burr will be in Jupiter next week for the World Wood Bat Association World Championships and then will be taking the winter off for some much-needed rest.

• SC Yankees Scout Team righthander Chase De Jong from Wilson High in Long Beach, Calif., pitched at 88-89 mph today with a tight 12-6 curveball in the 75-76 mph range. As he's done all summer, De Jong showed great composure and racked up strikeouts.