{"id":660754,"date":"2026-04-03T13:00:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T13:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/660754\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T13:00:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T13:00:26","slug":"seven-ucla-alums-poised-for-great-seasons-across-major-league-baseball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/660754\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven UCLA alums poised for great seasons across Major League Baseball"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 Major League Baseball season is fully underway as of last week, allowing us to find out where some of our favorite former UCLA Bruins<\/a> are across the league.<\/p>\n

UCLA<\/a> is no stranger to producing big league talent; currently, 27 former Bruins<\/a> are in the Minor Leagues, with seven more on MLB rosters.<\/p>\n

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Pitcher: Gerrit Cole<\/p>\n

Former UCLA pitcher Gerrit Cole remains on the Injured List after Tommy John surgery sidelined his 2025 season. According to reports, he\u2019ll begin a minor league rehab assignment sometime in April. The righty hasn\u2019t made a start since game six of the 2024 World Series, where the Yankees lost his final start against the championship-winning Los Angeles Dodgers.<\/p>\n

Pitcher: Jake Bird<\/p>\n

Joining Cole on the Yankees is fellow righty pitcher Jake Bird, who\u2019ll be throwing out of the bullpen in his sixth season in the big leagues.<\/p>\n

Pitcher: Griffin Canning<\/p>\n

Another reliever, Griffin Canning, didn\u2019t travel far from Jackie Robinson Stadium after being drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in 2019. After five years in Anaheim, he joined the Mets for a single season in 2025 before returning once again to the West Coast, where he\u2019ll throw for the San Diego Padres in his sixth season.<\/p>\n

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Infielder: Matt McLain<\/p>\n

Infielder Matt McLain played at UCLA for three years before being drafted in the first round by the Cincinnati Reds. McLain was fifth in National League Rookie of the Year voting in 2023 before missing the entirety of the 2024 season due to a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

Catcher: Tyler Heineman<\/p>\n

Behind the dish for the Toronto Blue Jays is catcher Tyler Heineman, who played for UCLA from 2010 to 2012. Heineman has seven years in the MLB under his belt and got to make his World Series debut in Game 3 against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 18-inning slugfest.<\/p>\n

Infielder: Kyle Karros<\/p>\n

Third baseman Kyle Karros is playing his second season with the Colorado Rockies, where he\u2019s slated to be the starting third baseman for the 2026 season after the Rockies traded Ryan McMahon to the Yankees at the 2025 trade deadline.<\/p>\n

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Outfielder: Garrett Mitchell<\/p>\n

Centerfield Garrett Mitchell will once again join the Milwaukee Brewers, who drafted him in the first round in 2020. The former Bruin has never played more than 69 games in his four MLB seasons, as injuries have kept him sidelined most of his career. With fellow Brewer star outfielder Jackson Chourio hitting the 15-day injured list right before opening day, Mitchell will have the opportunity to cement himself a spot on the roster long term.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: MLB Season: UCLA alumni spread throughout Major League Baseball<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 Major League Baseball season is fully underway as of last week, allowing us to find out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2276],"tags":[5,50,52,463,2281,98,2540,3875,1119,39318,56,57,19,2291,1401,59,4,1586,1494,18,84301,812,70,15820,5164,5080,142],"class_list":{"0":"post-660754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb-draft","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cincinnati-reds","10":"tag-colorado-rockies","11":"tag-garrett-mitchell","12":"tag-gerrit-cole","13":"tag-griffin-canning","14":"tag-injured-list","15":"tag-jackson-chourio","16":"tag-jake-bird","17":"tag-kyle-karros","18":"tag-los-angeles-angels","19":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","20":"tag-major-league-baseball","21":"tag-major-league-baseball-draft","22":"tag-matt-mclain","23":"tag-milwaukee-brewers","24":"tag-mlb","25":"tag-mlb-draft","26":"tag-ryan-mcmahon","27":"tag-san-diego-padres","28":"tag-sixth-season","29":"tag-the-mets","30":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","31":"tag-tyler-heineman","32":"tag-ucla","33":"tag-ucla-bruins","34":"tag-yankees"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116340904966990894","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}