USC baseball is known for its excellence, and this year the MLB Draft showed no different.
USC continued its trend of a player getting chosen in each draft with three picks: junior two-way Ethan Hedges in Round 3 by the Colorado Rockies, junior left handed pitcher Caden Hunter in Round 6 by the Baltimore Orioles, and redshirt junior shortstop Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek in Round 20 by the New York Yankees.
Marked as one of the top two-way players in the country, Hedges was picked at No. 77 by the Rockies in the third round.
In his latest campaign, the third baseman and closer Hedges was named as a part of the All-Big Ten first team, Big Ten All-Defensive Team, All-West Region second team and was a finalist for the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award. With a bat that slashed at .346/.462/.619, Hedges had 80 hits over the 60 games he started in and marked 21 multi-hit games. The right-hander led the Big Ten and sat at 19th in the nation with five triples, and was 11th in the Big Ten with the impressive batting average of .346. He also was responsible for 58 RBIs on the year.
While getting it done in the batter’s box, Hedges also worked excellently on the rubber in close situations. With nine saves, the Orange County native pitched 15 innings to an impressive 2.40 ERA and 1.13 WHIP. When Hedges was on the mound, the Trojans ultimately won in 14 of 15 games, including victories against SEC powerhouse Vanderbilt and cross-town rival UCLA.
Hedges was the 355th Trojan to be drafted, making it the second year in a row that a Trojan was selected in the third round, following Austin Overn’s selection by the Orioles in last year’s draft.
Along with Overn in 2024, the Orioles chose a Trojan in the 2025 Draft as well. With the 184th pick of the draft, Baltimore chose Hunter in the sixth round.
The 6-foot-2 southpaw was the Friday starter for USC, pitching 70.1 innings to a 5.50 ERA. Throwing to a 10.1 K/9, Hunter led the team in that category and was sixth in the Big Ten with 79 strikeouts. He finished with a 6-6 record on the year and added a tough save against Saint Mary’s to help USC advance to the Corvallis Regional Final.
The final Trojan chosen was Martin-Grudzielanek: the second-to-last pick in the 2025 MLB Draft at No. 614 in Round 20 by the Yankees.
This is the second time that Martin-Grudzielanek has been drafted, after being taken in the 20th round last year by the Toronto Blue Jays, but he did not sign to continue his college baseball eligibility. In this past year, the former Bruin slashed .294/364/433 with 70 hits, 41 RBIs and 16 extra-base hits.
Martin-Grudzielanek certainly had a hefty bat, as he had eight home runs this year, including two grand slams: once in conference play at Minnesota, and the other versus Hawaii. With power also came great consistency, as Martin-Grudzielanek had six multi-hit games in a row during a 10-game hit streak, and 12 multi-hit games over 20 starts during the middle of the season.
With Hedges, Hunter and Martin-Grudzielanek each drafted this year, they etch their names into the growing list of USC players drafted to the MLB.