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With all the baseball and softball success in her family’s backround, it would have been more of a story if Atalyia Rijo hadn’t become a top prospect to watch on the diamond.
That the incoming freshman is as talented as she is with the bat and glove comes as no surprise when you look at her accomplished family tree:
*** Atalyia’s father, Fernando Rijo, is from La Romana in the Dominican Republic and signed with the Los Angeles Dodger in 1995 at age 16. He pitched 11 seasons of professional baseball (1995 to 2005), mostly at the AA level, and got as high as AAA.
*** the athlete’s mother, Audrey Rijo, was a three-sport athlete who played D1 softball in college—two years at the Univ. of Albany and two at North Carolina-Wilmington from 1998 to 2002.
*** a cousin, Jose Rijo, was an MLB All-Star and led the Cincinnati Reds to the 1990 World Series title and was the World Series MVP.
*** an uncle, also named Jose Rijo, played in the Houston minor league system for nine years from 1993-2002.
*** another cousin, Victor Mercedes, played minor league baseball from 2001 to 2012.
Atalyia is a 13-year-old middle infielder currently playing for Nate Eaton’s 14U team, which is in Colorado this week competing at the Triple Crown Jr. Sparkler.
So far this week, reports from college coaches indicate Atalyia has looked great in the field and at the plate with several SEC and ACC programs watching her play.
According to Coach Eaton, “All I keep hearing is ‘We are interested.’ I had a school tell me on Wednesday that if we were under the old recruiting rule, she would have had 8-10 offers from the last two weekends.”
The Rijo family now calls Horse Heads, New York, home after Atalyia’s parents met in 2001 in North Carolina when Audrey was playing at UNCW and Fernando was in the minor leagues playing for the Dodgers’ A club, the Wilmington Waves.
