UCLA’s Matt McLain, former Beckman star, selected in first round of MLB Draft by Cincinnati

Shortstop Matt McLain makes a play for UCLA’s baseball team. (Photo courtesy UCLA Athletic Communications)

Matt McLain’s life-long dream to be drafted by a Major League team came true Sunday.

McLain, a former Beckman High School baseball star and a three-year standout at UCLA, was selected in the first round as the 17th overall pick by the Cincinnati Reds Sunday in the Major League Baseball Draft and is expected to sign with the team.

McLain is expected to play shortstop, where he played his last two seasons at UCLA and for most of his career at Beckman High School in Irvine.

“I don’t think there is going to be a lot of negotiating right now, they could have already agreed to a dollar figure,” said Beckman Coach Kevin Lavalle. “I don’t know how fast it would take but I know Matt wants to play. Matt hasn’t played in a baseball game in a month.”

McLain becomes the second player from Beckman to be drafted in the first round. James Kaprielian, now with the Oakland A’s, was selected by the New York Yankees as the 16th pick in the first round in 2015.

It was the second time that McLain, who completed his junior year at UCLA, has been drafted.

McLain, an all-county shortstop with Beckman, was selected in the first round (25th pick) by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Major League draft in 2018.

McLain had made a verbal commitment to play for UCLA in his freshman year and had received a scholarship to play for the Bruins. He dreamed of playing for the Bruins since he was a child.

McLain, an All-CIF Division 2 player as a senior at Beckman, had to weigh an offer of a $2.6 million signing bonus with the Diamondbacks or honor his commitment to play at UCLA.

After careful consideration, he opted for school and a baseball career with UCLA, coached by John Savage.

“I’m not worried about that (playing in the Majors), that will take care of itself,” McLain said in an interview with OC Sports Zone in May 2019. “That’s my ultimate goal to get out there and play in the Major Leagues under the lights.”

McLain becomes the highest picked position player to be drafted from UCLA since Chace Utley was selected number 15 by Philadelphia in 2000, according to UCLA athletic offciials.

On Sunday, McLain’s family and friends gathered at the McLain home in Tustin to watch and then celebrate the big announcement, which was televised live by the Major League Network.

Lavalle, who had another commitment, was represented by his son Ryan, an assistant coach at Beckman. “I was getting a lot of updates, there were a lot of people there,” Kevin Lavalle said.

The Patriots coach had visited with McLain a few times in the past two weeks and said Matt McLain had no clear idea of what team would actually draft him.

“It’s super exciting, the draft day is such a chaotic day for everybody,” Lavalle said. “It’s so different than every other sport as far as the unpredictablity of it all. The word I’m thinking of is first just excited and then relieved. For the scouts and everybody in baseball, these two hours are the culmination of two years of work and for Matt, it’s a culmination of 12 years of work.

“Every player probably has an educated guess as to where it’s is going to happen. I met Matt a couple times at the field working out and he had as little an idea of what was going to happen as anybody else. Cincinnati Reds, that’s really cool. It could have been any of the 30 teams and the reaction would have been the same, it’s just relief and excitment.

“All of the hard work ends today and then tomorrow, it starts again, it’s a whole new chapter.”

Lavalle said he is still asked about McLain’s decision to turn down $2.5 million when he was drafted by Arizona out of Arizona.

“It was never about the idea that it wasn’t enough money,” Lavalle said. “There are people who get drafted and the dollar figure at the end is important. That’s life. That’s a lot of money to turn down. But for Matt it was really about getting to this point where he can take a deep breath, tomorrow is Monday and then begin his professional career. If anybody asked him, he would tell you, three years ago he wasn’t ready for that. He would be driving a nicer car than he drives now, but that wasn’t the point.

“If you have legitimate goals of making it the big leagues, you’ve got to be ready when you start the process and there is no doubt that he is better now than he was three years ago, so I think that’s what it’s all about.”

Lavalle said he didn’t know where McLain’s first assignment will be, but he will likely report to Florida for a minor league assignment.

He credited McLain’s parents Wendi and Mike McLain.

“I’m happy for him (Matt McLain) and I’m happy for Mike,” Lavalle said. “This is exciting for Wendi the mom, Nick and Sean and his uncle Randy and the extended family, but Mike has done such an incredible job. He’s such a great father and a role model on how hard he works in his own life and managing all three. Sean (who is at Arizona State) is playing for Team USA now and Nick is going to go to UCLA. Those three McLain boys are certainly loved by all of us.”

Lavalle sent a text to McLain earlier this week about the draft.

“I told him no matter who he plays for, he will never play for another coach who loves him as much as I do,” Lavalle said.

McLain was a three-year starter at UCLA and batted over .300 his sophomore and junior seasons. He had a career batting average of .279.

As a freshman in 2019, McLain played in 61 games and helped UCLA record a program-record 52 wins. He played center fielder in his first season before moving to shortstop, his position in high school.

McLain was a second team All-American his sophomore year in 2020 after batting .397 and notching a team-high 19 RBI. As a junior, McLain batted .333 with nine home runs and was named to the Pac-12 all-conference team.

In the past 17 years under Coach Savage, UCLA has had 107 players drafted. McLain becomes the 10th Bruin all-time to be drafted by the Cincinnati organization and the first since Zack Weiss in 2013. 

UCLA Athletic Communications was a source for this story

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.comn