Matt McLain

McLain was the biggest riser in the 2018 draft class after a huge senior season at Beckman (Calif.) High. The D-backs drafted him 25th overall, but he was strongly committed to UCLA and did not sign. McLain rebounded from a poor freshman season for the Bruins with a strong showing in the Cape Cod League and the abbreviated 2020 season. He followed up with his best season as a junior this spring, batting .323/.429/.569 with nine home runs during the regular season despite missing nearly three weeks with a broken thumb. McLain is undersized at a listed 5-foot-11, 170 pounds, but he is a dangerous hitter who is strong in his frame. He has a short, direct swing and consistently lines balls hard from gap to gap. He has a knack for finding the barrel, separates balls from strikes and rarely chases outside the strike zone. He is a consensus above-average to plus hitter and projects to hit at the top of a lineup for a first-division team. The only question about McLain’s offensive game is how much power he will produce. Though he hit for power in college, his fringe-average raw power will likely translate more to doubles with a wood bat and limit him to 10-15 home runs per season. He has plus speed and consistently runs hard to beat out infield singles and leg out doubles and triples. McLain played shortstop the last two seasons at UCLA and is playable there, but he lacks the natural actions for the position and projects better at second base. Some teams prefer him in center field, where he played as a freshman, and others think he projects best as a multi-positional player who bounces around the diamond. He is an instinctive defender who positions himself well, gets good reads off the bat and has above-average arm strength at any position. Regardless of where he ends up defensively, McLain is one of the top hitters in the class and will be taken in the first round again this year.