Holden Powell drafted in third round of 2020 MLB Draft

The UCLA Bruins had to wait another day to see their second player drafted in the 2020 MLB Draft, but pitcher Holden Powell is headed to the Washington Nationals organization.

Powell was drafted with the 94th overall pick and in the third round by the Nationals, completing the UCLA class of players in the 2020 MLB Draft.

Garrett Mitchell was drafted in the first round while four separate UCLA commits were selected in the draft (Kyle Harrison, Jake Vogel, Milan Tolentino, Tyler Soderstrom). Though shortened to just five rounds in 2020, head coach John Savage now has 107 MLB draftees and that number now includes 41 players taken within the first 10 rounds of the draft.

Powell was a decorated reliever and even won the NCBWA Stopper of the Year in 2019. That award is given to the nation’s top college baseball reliever. He won freshman All-American honors as well as back-to-back All-American honors in his time at UCLA.

By the time his UCLA career was over, Powell had allowed just 2.26 ERA and had 26 career saves. That number is good enough for second all-time at UCLA and he finished his career by averaging 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.

Perhaps most impressive is the fact that his best baseball still lies ahead of him. In eight appearances in this shortened season, Powell pitched nine and a third innings and did not allow a single earned run.

We wish you the best Holden, way to represent UCLA!

Here are the full selections of the UCLA players and commits:

Garrett Mitchell — Round 1, Pick 20, Milwaukee Brewers
Tyler Soderstrom (commit) — Round 1, Pick 26, Oakland Athletics
Kyle Harrison (commit) — Round 3, Pick 85, San Francisco Giants
Holdel Powell — Round 3, Pick 94, Washington Nationals
Jake Vogel (commit) — Round 3, Pick 100, Los Angeles Dodgers
Milan Tolentino (commit) — Round 4, Pick 124, Cleveland Indians