2021 Baseball Roster
Roster
Matt McLain
- Position:
- INF
- Height:
- 5-11
- Weight:
- 180
- Class:
- Junior
- Hometown:
- Tustin, Calif.
- High School:
- Beckman HS
Notes
Selected in the first round, No. 17 overall,ย ofย the 2021 MLB First-Year Player Draft by Cincinnatiย ... Three-year starter at UCLA, serving as the team's primary center fielder (2019) and shortstop (2020-21) ... Career .279/.360/.478 slash line with 16 home runs and 85 RBIs over 121 games ...ย Hit over .300 in both his sophomore and junior seasons ... 2020 All-American and 2021 All-Pac-12 choice ... Second Bruin ever to attend UCLA after being a first-round MLB draft pickย out of high school (Gerrit Cole); both were drafted higher in the first round after their junior seasons at UCLA.ย
Career Highlights
2020 Second Team All-American
2021 First Team Preseason All-American
2021 Pac-12 All-Conference Team
2021 Lubbock Regional All-Tournament Team
2021
Appeared in 47 games, starting 46, as a true junior ... Named a Preseason First Team All-American by Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, Perfect Game, and D1Baseball ... Named Preseason Pac-12 Player of the Year by both D1Baseball and Baseball America ... Slashed .333/.434/.579 over 183 at-bats with 47 runs scored, 61 hits, 14 doubles, two triples, nine home runs, 36 RBIs, and 34 walks ... Ranked second on the team in slugging, OPS (1.013), doubles, home runs, walks, and total bases (106) ... Among Pac-12 batters, ranked second in sac flies (six), sixth in runs per game (1.0), eighth in walks, and 11th in slugging ... In D1Baseball's rankings of the top college prospects for the 2021 draft, McLain was listed at No. 5 in the preseason edition and No. 11 in the midseason edition ...ย Missed 10 games during May due to a fractured thumb ... All starts came at shortstop ... UCLA was 30-16 with him in the starting lineup ... Had an OBP of .600 in at-bats where he led off an inning ... Batted .344 with runners on base and .370 with runners in scoring position ... Batted .296 in Pac-12 play ... Was 9-10ย in stolen base attempts, the best success rate on the team among those with three or more attempts, and the second-highest SB total (Kevin Kendall: 10) ... Was UCLA's top hitter in both February (.304) and April (.414) ... Was a standout for UCLA at the Lubbock Regional, batting .438 (7-16) with four extra-base hits and eight RBIs over four games en route to All-Tournament Team honors ... Was the top-ranked shortstop in D1Baseball's preseason positional power rankings, and remained in the top-five all season ... Had a 16-game hit streak from Apr. 1 to May 1, the longest streak of any Bruin in 2021 ... During his hit streak, batted .417 (25-60) with seven home runs, 13 RBIs, 20 runs, and seven multi-hit games ... Reached base in the first 38 games of the year, the longest reached base streak of any Bruin in 2021 ... Hit four home runs over a four-game stretch from Apr. 3-11 ... Drew four walks against Oregon State on Apr. 30 (a single-game high by any Bruin in 2021) and reached base five times ... Notched his second-career two-homer game, and matched a career-high with four RBIs,ย on Apr. 3 against Washington ... Reached base in 44ย of the 46 games in which he had a plate appearance ... Made seven errors on the year for a .965 fielding percentage ... Made four errors over the first five games of the year; made just three over the remainder of the year and none after Mar. 27 (season ended Jun. 6).ย
2020 (Summer)
Played over the summer with the Santa Barbara Foresters ... Over 30 games, posted a .436 batting average, 47 runs, 20 extra-base hits, 7 home runs, 28 RBIs, and 17 stolen bases ...ย Played alongside UCLA teammates Sean Mullen, Pat Caulfield, Noah Cardenas, and Nick Nastrini ... Helped the Foresters win the 2020 National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kan. ... Hit a two-run home run during the championship game, a 12-3ย win over the Diamond Dawgs.ย
2020
Started 13 games as a true sophomore, all at shortstop ... Was in the midst of a breakout campaign, slashing .397/.422/.621 with four doubles and three home runs in 58 at-bats ... Named a Second Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball ... Rated as the No. 3 sophomore hitter in the country per D1Baseball's analytical rankings and the No. 3 shortstop overall in their final positional power rankingsย ... Led the squad with 19 RBIs ... Also led the team in batting average, slugging, hits (23), home runs, total bases (36), and OPS (1.043) ... Included on the national/conference leaderboards in the following categories: batting average (101/7), hits per game (11/2), home runs (147/5), RBIs per game (12/2) ... Named the MVP of the Frisco College Baseball Classic after batting .471 (8-17) with seven RBIs over three games .... Was also named the Pac-12 Player of the Week for his performance in Frisco, the first weekly league honor in McLain's career ...ย Ranked No. 26 on the D1Baseball preseason positional power rankings for shortstop ... Batted third in the lineup in every one of his starts ... Had hits in 12 of his 13 games, including eight in a row to close the campaign ... Went 3-5 with a home run and four RBIs against UC Riverside on Feb. 15 ... Was 4-6 with four RBIs against Illinois on Mar. 1 ... Had a double and a home run against UCR on Feb. 16 ... Scored multiple runs in six games, including three off the first four to open the year ... Was 1-1 in stolen base attempts ... Hit a two-run homer to open the scoring in a 10-2 win over Texas A&M on Feb. 29 ...ย Named to the Director's Honor Roll forย spring (quarter GPA of 3.0 or higher and pass at least 12 units).ย
2019 (Summer)
Played in the Cape Cod League with the Wareham Gatemen ... Over 33 regular season games, batted .274 with seven doubles, two triples, two home runs, and 23 RBIs over 113 at-bats ... Ranked the No. 7 prospect in the Cape Cod League by Baseball America ... Was 2-9 over three playoff games ... Was named the Cape's Player of the Night on Jun. 24 after going 2-4 with four RBIs, including a three-run home run ... Had a summer-high three hits in three separate games ... Finished a homer short of the cycle against Yarmouth-Dennis on Jul. 9.ย
2019
Appeared in 61 games, including 60 starts, as a true freshman ... Slashed .203/.276/.355 with 28 runs scored, nine doubles, six triples, four home runs, and 30 RBIs in 217 at-bats ... His six triples ranked third in the Pac-12 andย tied a single-season freshman program record (Brandon Crawford, 2006) ... UCLA's Opening Day center fielder, went on to make 49 starts in CF ... Also made 11 starts at third base, all after May 14 ... Drew 17 walks, had 6 HBPs, struck out 64 times, and was 6-8 in stolen base attempts ... Had a trio of sac flies and six sac bunts ... Made three errors in 110 chances for a .973 fielding percentage (two of three errorsย occurred as a third baseman) ... Had 11 two-hit games and six multi-RBI performances ... Topped the preseason list of D1Baseball.com's "Top 100 Impact Freshmen" ... Batted .364 (4-11) with the bases loaded, best on the team among those with two or more at-bats ... Batted .189 in league play with 11 extra-base hits in 95 at-bats ... Posted a .217 average (5-23) in the postseason ... Recorded an RBI in seven of the first eight games of the year ... Had his best offensive performance of the year at Washington State on May 12, going 2-4 while recording season-highs with two home runs, three runs scored, and four RBIs ... Hit his first collegiate home run on Feb. 23 at Georgia Tech off Connor Thomas ... Had multiple extra-base hits on Feb. 23 at Georgia Tech (double, home run), Mar. 16 against Oregon State (double, triple), and May 12 at Washington State (two home runs) ... Reached base in a season-high nine straight games from Mar. 8-23.ย
2018 (Summer)
Drafted in the first round (25th overall)ย of the 2018 MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks, but opted to attend UCLA ... Validated his first-round pick status with a strong debut summer in the WCL playing for the Bellingham Bells, slashing .291/.370/.442 with 24 RBIs in 23 games โฆ Won the inaugural WCL Top Prospect Award โฆ Had multiple hits in eight of his 23 appearances โฆ Also garnered an All-WCL honorable mention โฆ Named the WCL Player of the Week on Aug. 6, he went 10-26 with a home run, seven RBIs, and eight runs scored in the week prior โฆ Hit a home run and collected four RBIs in back-to-back games (Jul. 23 vs. Bend, Jul. 24 vs. Port Angeles) โฆ Had 12 RBIs over a four-game span from Jul. 22-25.
High School
Played four years of varsity baseball at Beckman High School in Irvine, Calif. ... Two-time First Team All-American, two-time league MVP, three-time First Team All-State, two-time First Team All-League, and four-time All-CIF ... Won a pair of league championships at Beckman ... As a senior, batted .369 with a .467 OBP and .604 slugging percentage ... Hit .471 with 33 runs, 18 RBIs, two home runs, and 15 stolen bases as a junior ...ย Competed for the Milwaukee Brewers at the 2017 Area Code Games ... Was ranked the No. 26 prospect in California and No. 175 prospect in the nation during his junior year by Perfect Game ... Had a .389 batting average as a freshman ... Named to the Rawlings Top Prospect Team at the 2017 Perfect Game National Showcase ... Also played football as a freshman and sophomore ... Was a cornerback and wide receiver.
Personal
Matthew Michael McLain was born in Orange, Calif. โฆ Parents are Mike and Wendi McLain ... Prefers to be called Matt โฆ Aspires to be a professional baseball player ... Has two younger brothers, Sean and Nick ... Also has a dog, Reggie ... Chose to attend UCLA because "it was a place with a great baseball program and strong academics" ... Admires Mike Trout ... Listens to Travis Scott ... Roots for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim ... Enjoys eating double-doubles ... Favorite athletes include Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and Mike Trout ... In his free time, likes to go to the beach, play spikeball, and Fortniteย ... Statistics was his favorite class in high school ... His father played football at UCLA ... Mother was an All-American softball and volleyball player ... Majoring in political science.ย
Career Highs
At-Bats: 6 (fourย times)
Runs: 3 (six times)
Hits: 4 vs. Illinois (3/1/20)
RBI: 4 (four times)
Doubles: 2 (twice)
Triples: 1 (eightย times)
Home Runs: 2ย (twice)
Stolen Bases: 3 vs. Oregon State (5/1/21)
