Two UCLA baseball recruits will play for Bruins despite being drafted

The UCLA Bruins baseball program was glad to see the arrival of the deadline for MLB draft selections to sign with organizations. Right-handed pitcher Angel Cervantes and third baseman Dominic Cadiz opted to honor their commitment to the Bruins rather than turn pro out of high school.

Cervantes was a second round selection by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cadiz was taken in the 15th round by the Milwaukee Brewers. D1Baseball.com even declared the UCLA Bruins as the winner for the MLB Draft, with both players opting to report to Westwood rather than sign on with a pro team.

Cervantes’ decision is especially interesting, as he turned down nearly $2 million from the Pirates to play three seasons under John Savage at UCLA. Based off of Tuesday’s news release from the Bruins’ program, it sounds as if Savage is pretty excited bring both players into the program.

“Getting both Angel Cervantes and Dominic Cadiz on campus shows how special of a place UCLA is both academically and athletically,” said UCLA head coach John Savage. “Both are cornerstone players that will make an immediate impact to our program. We look forward to developing them and watching their growth.”

Both Cadiz and Cervantes are from California, with Cervantes coming from Lynwood and Cadiz being from Sherman Oaks. PerfectGame.org has UCLA with the 30th best recruiting class in 2025, with Cervantes being the highest-ranked Bruins recruit at No. 34. The other UCLA Top-100 recruit is right-handed pitcher Zach Strickland, who’s ranked No. 86 anf comes from Arcadia, California.