Five Aztecs Selected in MLB Draft

Five San Diego State University Aztecs were selected in the MLB Draft this week, the fifth straight year in which the picks included more than one SDSU player.

In selections completed on Tuesday and announced at the MLB Draft in Denver, Colorado:

• Starting shortstop Mike Jarvis and standout catcher Wyatt Hendrie were both selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Jarvis was drafted as a second baseman in the sixth round with the 163rd pick overall on Monday, while Hendrie went shortly thereafter in the seventh round in the 193rd spot overall.
• Matt Rudick, a center fielder, was chosen by the New York Mets in the 13th round (382nd overall) on Tuesday.
• Right fielder Jaden Fein was selected by the Washington Nationals in the 15th round (443rd overall), followed by right-handed pitcher Michael Paredes, who was taken by the Minnesota Twins in the 18th round (549th overall).

The 2021 selections give the Aztecs 223 MLB Draft picks since 1965. SDSU’s five picks were also the most by a Mountain West school this year.

This past season, Jarvis collected second-team all-Mountain West honors for the second time after batting .367 with five homers, 32 RBIs and 58 runs scored, along with 16 stolen bases. The SDSU senior led the conference with 79 hits and ranked among the league leaders in runs (2nd), stolen bases (2nd), total bases (4th – 117) and doubles (5th – 17).
 
Jarvis was one of the Aztecs’ hottest hitters down the stretch, finishing the 2021 season with a 16-game hitting streak during which he posted a team-high .464 batting average, a .519 on-base percentage and 20 runs scored. For the spring, the San Diego native and Clairemont High alumnus led the Aztecs with multiple hits in 29 games and found himself among the nation’s top 10 in hits per game (5th – 1.72) and runs per contest (9th – 1.26).
 
In late March, Jarvis received MW Player of the Week recognition for the first time in his career after hitting .615 in a three-game series at San José State, where he led the Aztecs in several offensive categories, including batting average, slugging percentage (1.000), on-base percentage (.706), hits (8), runs (5), total bases (13) and walks (4).
 
Hendrie in 2021 earned second-team American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings all-West Region honors to go with first-team all-Mountain West accolades. In addition, the Palmdale, California, native collected three MW Player of the Week certificates and was also one of 16 semifinalists for the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award.
 
In 45 games, Hendrie ranked third on the Aztecs with a .379 batting average with nine home runs and a conference-leading 57 RBIs. In addition, the SDSU redshirt sophomore found himself among the MW statistical leaders in runs scored (3rd – 53), on-base percentage (7th – .464), hits (T-7th – 64), slugging percentage (8th – .633), home runs (T-9th), total bases (10th – 107) and batting average (10th).
 
Nationally, Hendrie finished 15th with 1.27 RBIs per game, and 17th with 1.18 runs per game. He ended the year with a 12-game hitting streak, raising his batting average to .379 in that stretch.

In 2021, Rudick enjoyed his finest season as a collegian, earning third-team All-America honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association to go with second-team all-West Region recognition from the ABCA. The SDSU redshirt junior also garnered all-Mountain West accolades for the third straight year after receiving first-team distinction.
 
Rudick reached base in all 43 games he made a plate appearance, leading the Aztecs with career-highs in batting average (.410), runs scored (61), triples (4), stolen bases (17) and on-base percentage (.484). In addition, the San Diego native and Scripps Ranch High alumnus recorded personal bests in home runs (4), RBIs (41) and slugging percentage (.567) and was the most difficult player in the country to strike out for the second straight year, striking out only once every 19.8 at-bats.
 
Rudick led the Mountain West in runs scored and stolen bases and finished among the conference leaders in triples (2nd), batting average (4th), hits (5th – 73), walks (tied for 5th – 26), on-base percentage (6th) and RBIs (tied for 10th). Nationally, he ranked third in the country in runs per game (1.39), eighth in hits per game (1.66) and 11th in batting average.
 
Fein in 2021 received second-team all-Mountain West recognition after hitting .389 with four home runs and 53 RBIs. The SDSU redshirt sophomore also landed on the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List while earning a spot on the Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger of the Year Watch List.
 
In addition, Fein found himself among the MW leaders in several categories, including RBIs (2nd), hits (4th – 74th), doubles (4th – 19), runs scored (5th – 47), stolen bases (tied for 6th – 8), batting average (8th) and on-base percentage (10th – .456). The Simi Valley, California, native also ranked 16th in the country with 1.61 hits per game,18th with 0.41 doubles per contest and 29th with 19 doubles overall.
 
During the season, Fein became the first non-pitcher in league history to garner four MW Player of the Week accolades in the same year. He shared the team lead with multiple RBIs in 15 games.
 
Paredes was one of the mainstays of the SDSU rotation, leading the Aztecs with 77.1 innings pitched. He earned second-team all-Mountain West honors for the first time in his career after receiving second-team recognition in 2021.

The Aztec right hander posted a 4-0 record with a 5.59 ERA and 65 strikeouts this past season. He ranked second in the league with 77.1 innings pitched and third in strikeouts while finishing among the conference leaders in opposing batting average (6th – .271), ERA (8th) and wins (tied for 10th).
 
Recording wins in three straight starts earlier this spring, Paredes threw a season-high eight innings against UNLV on March 13 before tying his career-best with nine strikeouts vs. Air Force in 7.2 innings on March 20. He followed with another win at San José State, where he yielded three runs against five strikeouts in six innings of work. At Air Force on May 22, he gave up two runs on five hits and four walks while striking out six in six innings, as the Aztecs rolled to a 17-3 run-rule win.