Bruins Earn Top-Five Recruit Class Ranking
October 01, 2018 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES โ The UCLA baseball team's incoming recruiting class was ranked No. 4 by D1Baseball on Monday morning, the highest ranking yet for the newest batch of Bruins.
UCLA's freshman class remains the highest-ranked in the Pac-12 and the western half of the country, and has now been deemed a top-10 class in every major poll after coming in at No. 6 in Baseball America's rankings and No. 8 in Collegiate Baseball's poll.
Arizona (No. 11) and USC (No. 21) were the only other Pac-12 schools represented in D1's rankings.
This marks the fifth consecutive season in which UCLA's recruiting class has been ranked inside the top-25. The No. 4 mark is the program's best since 2015.
The recruiting class is headlined by 2018 first round MLB draft pick Matt McLain, who opted to enroll at UCLA in lieu of signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The infielder from Tustin, Calif. followed up his standout high school career at Beckman HS with a breakout debut in the West Coast League this summer, where he slashed .291/.370/.442 while driving in over a run per game for the Bellingham Bells. He earned the WCL's inaugural Top Prospect Award and was just this week named the top prospect in the league by Perfect Game.
Two-way player Jake Moberg and right-handed pitcher Sean Mullen were also drafted โ both by the Colorado Rockies โ but opted to head to Westwood. Moberg was the No. 20 prospect of his class out of California, and was a WCL All-Star this past summer with the Yakima Valley Pippins. Mullen meanwhile was a Perfect-Game All-American and an All-California First Team selection out of Stockdale HS in Bakersfield, Calif.
Besides the drafted trio, a host of incoming Bruins made names for themselves this summer playing in the West Coast League.
Right-handed pitcher Nick Nastrini was an All-WCL First Teamer and was the No. 2 collegiate prospect in the WCL behind McLain after posting ace-like numbers (4-2, 1.88 ERA) for Bellingham. Catcher Noah Cardenas and shortstop Mikey Perez, son of UCLA head softball coach Kelly Inouye-Perez, both earned All-WCL nods as well. Infielder JT Schwartz had a gaudy .320/.395/.560 slash line for Wenatchee in 20 games.
The Bruins' 2019 recruiting class is rounded out by Perfect Game All-American right-handed pitchers Dennis Boatman and Jesse Bergin.
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