Former Bruin McLain Looking to Bounce Back from Struggles

Matt McLain of the Cincinnati Reds is a baseball prodigy. But even prodigies hit their bumps in the road.

You may be asking... how is someone batting under .200 a prodigy?

Three reasons: the resume, the pedigree, and the bounce-back from adversity.

You rarely see an athlete get drafted in the first round twice, but that’s what McLain is. After high school in 2018, he was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks, 25th overall. But instead of quick-starting his career, the California native committed to play for the UCLA Bruins.

And thank God he did.

Because in his freshman year in Westwood, he batted a whopping .203, hit four home runs, and drove in 30 RBIs.

It was a cruel reality for the middle infielder who needed to evolve his game.

That summer, he played for the Wareham Gatemen in the Cape Cod League and did a full reset, hitting .274 and finding his ability to make contact again at a high level.

Sophomore year is when everything came together. Thirteen games in, he was hitting at an incredible pace — batting .397, nearly 200 points higher than his freshman season.

And then COVID-19 happened, stopping all momentum. Like all other college sports playing at that time, the season was canceled.

But it didn’t stop McLain from improving himself. Once everything passed, the junior season kicked back up again — and McLain was right back to it.

After missing the first three weeks with a fractured thumb, he came back with a vengeance. He hit .333, with nine home runs, 36 RBIs, 14 doubles, and a 1.013 OPS.

That’s when the MLB started calling again.

He was drafted in the first round again, eight spots ahead of his previous selection, 17th overall, to the Cincinnati Reds.

With the Reds organization, he spent two years in the minor leagues. In Triple-A, he proved that he belonged, hitting .340 with 12 home runs and 40 RBIs in 41 games played. That was enough for the Reds to bring him up.

In 89 games, he finished fifth in Rookie of the Year voting, hitting .290, with 16 home runs, 50 RBIs, 23 doubles, and four triples. Along the way, he also won National League Player of the Week for the week of May 28.

Cincinnati found its future, and he was only 23 years old.

Then he tore his labrum in spring training and missed all of 2024 — a brutal blow to a team that was relying on him.

The 2025 season was supposed to be the return, where he picked up where he left off. But the fairy tale story was put on hold as McLain struggled mightily, colder than the South Pole in December.

At one point this season, his batting average got as low as .154 on April 30, and there was major concern that McLain’s story in the Queen City was coming to an end.

However, as of June 15, his average has skyrocketed, and he’s now 32 points higher than where it was. In his last 10 games, he’s registered a hit in eight of them.

Reds skipper Terry Francona believes the return to form is coming, but McLain is even more confident.

“It’s coming,” he told Cincinnati.com. “I didn’t feel that my freshman year at UCLA. I do now. Yeah, it’s coming."

Is it officially the return of the Mack?

McLain seems to think it is.