UCLA Baseball: Four Bruins Selected on Day 2 of MLB Draft
JT Schwartz and Nick Nastrini were selected in the fourth round while Kevin Kendall and Noah Cardenas were chosen in the seventh and eighth rounds, respectively.
It was a big day for the Bruins on the second day of the 2021 MLB Draft as four players were selected. After Matt McLain was chosen in the first round on Sunday night, no Bruin was picked until the fourth round.
That’s when the New York Mets ended the streak by selecting JT Schwartz with the 111th pick of the draft.
Schwartz’s selection came a little earlier than predicted. He was ranked as the 145th best prospect in this year’s draft.
Just twenty spots later, the LA Dodgers selected pitcher Nick Nastrini with the 131st pick of the draft.
If it was a surprise that Schwartz was chosen earlier than expected, then this pick totally came out of left field because Nastrini was ranked as the 248th best prospect in the draft. It’s also a bit of a surprise to those who followed UCLA this past season as Nastrini was inconsistent over the course of the year. While he showed glimpses of being very good, he also struggled at times.
The next Bruin chosen yesterday was Kevin Kendall, who was taken by the New York Mets in the seventh round with the 202nd pick overall.
This was another surprise because Kendall wasn’t one of the top 250 ranked prospects. Kendall joined Schwartz as the second Bruin picked by the Mets yesterday.
The fourth Bruin chosen yesterday was catcher Noah Cardenas. He was selected in the eighth round with the 249th overall pick.
Cardenas is a bargain pickup for the Twins. He was ranked as the 188th best prospect in the draft, yet, somehow, he fell all the way to 249th.
Finally, only one member of UCLA’s 2021 draft class was selected yesterday. That was pitcher Eric Silva from JSerra HS in Orange County. Silva was selected in the fourth round by the Giants with the 115th pick overall.
As a result, the good news is that head coach John Savage’s 2021 recruiting class remains mostly in tact with just one day left to go and, even if a few recruits get picked today, there’s still a good chance it stays in tact because the remaining recruits will be picked low enough that they can look at the plethora of Bruins being selected in the first two days and, hoepfully, realize that they can improve their overall selection by playing in Westwood.
The MLB draft concludes today with rounds 11 through 20. Today’s session will be streamed on MLB.com. Today’s selections begin at 9 am PT. MLB.com also has Draft Central set up with all the latest draft information. It will be interested to see what other Bruins are selected today or if any other members of UCLA’s 2021 recruiting class are selected.
Congratulations to JT Schwartz, Nick Nastrini, Kevin Kendall and Noah Cardenas on being drafted!
Go Bruins!!!
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