If you had asked Matthew Dalquist about his MLB draft prospects five years ago, he would’ve shrugged you off and shared his plan: to play in college and figure things out from there.
Despite a standout career at UC San Diego, the call he received on July 14 came as a surprise. Former UCSD baseball right-handed pitcher Matthew Dalquist had been selected by the Minnesota Twins with the 539th pick in the 18th round of the 2025 draft, becoming the fourth UCSD player to get signed in the Division-I era — and the only Triton selection this year.
“I wasn’t really expecting too much,” Dalquist said. “I was a pretty late round pick, and I wasn’t hearing a lot from scouts or any teams leading up to the draft.”
Dalquist was UCSD’s Friday starter for 14 games this season. He placed third in the conference in strikeout-to-walk ratio, 5.15, and 24th nationally. In his second season playing for UCSD, he led the Big West in walks allowed per game, coming in at 16th nationally with an average of 1.44. From 2024-25, Dalquist improved from a 4.71 ERA to a 4.43. The Tritons ended the 2025 season sixth in the Big West, going 15-15 in conference play and 26-25 overall.
Despite his impressive collegiate record, the call from the Twins was somewhat unexpected.
“I just didn’t know if the call was going to come, and I had a good offer to go back to school,” he said. “I was going to do grad school at UCSD and play another year. So, my mindset was that I had two great options, and it was really a win-win situation. There was a clear fork in the road with where my life was going to go, and neither of those options were bad. So, it wasn’t too stressful. It was just, okay, let’s see what happens.”
Dalquist had known that baseball was going to be in his future no matter what. He could either continue playing for UCSD and pursue his master’s in data science — in the hopes of being a baseball analyst — or become a professional baseball player. Ultimately, though, he wanted to do both.
At four-year universities, baseball players aren’t eligible for the draft until they’re in their junior year. Dalquist became eligible for the 2024 draft after his first full season playing for UCSD. He had been forced to redshirt due to injury in the previous 2023 season, when UCSD baseball won the Big West Championship. Last year, he received interest from the scouts with the Twins, among other teams, and was invited to the MLB Draft Combine.
“As a junior, I was just seeing all the options that I had in front of me, knowing that there were a lot of good options that I could take after this year, and then I would have my degree,” Dalquist said. “So with whatever happened, I was set up to go forward. Mentally and baseball-wise, I didn’t really feel ready either. I feel like I needed another year in college just to continue to grow.”
With only one season of collegiate baseball under his belt and one year left until he could graduate, Dalquist wasn’t ready to leave La Jolla.
A year later, Dalquist graduated with his bachelor’s in data science. Once again, he found himself in the same position: deciding between another year of playing for UCSD or becoming a professional athlete. Only this time, there was less interest from MLB teams. He wasn’t invited back to the MLB Draft Combine, and he wasn’t formally talking to scouts before the draft got underway.
“I was just kind of waiting and seeing what would happen,” he said. “The day of the draft and the day before, I got a couple calls, still wasn’t sure if anything was going to happen. And then, eventually, there was some negotiation going on, and eventually, they ended up picking me. So, that was really cool.”
Despite the uncertainty, Dalquist seemed blasé about getting drafted.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but it wasn’t the end-all, be-all life decision that I had that had to happen for me,” he said. “That made it less stressful this time around. But it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and it’s really cool to be here, and I’m having a great time so far. It’s awesome.”
Dalquist’s love for baseball can largely be attributed to his older brother, Andrew, who was drafted out of high school to the White Sox. Andrew has been playing in the minor leagues for the last six years.
“As far back as I can remember, he was playing baseball, so I wanted to play baseball, and then it just became a thing,” Dalquist said. “As a little kid, you’re always wide-eyed and dreaming big and saying, ‘Oh, I’m going to be a big league baseball player.’ And then by the time I got closer to middle school [and] high school, I was like, ‘Okay, I really want to play college baseball. That’ll be really cool. It’ll give me a chance to get a degree and play baseball for another few years.’ So that’s what I worked toward. Pro baseball? We’ll worry about that later.”
Dalquist set his sights on getting recruited in college, eventually landing on UCSD.
“Once I achieved that goal, it was more like, ‘Okay, I’m going to try to become the best college player that I can be to win games,’” he said. “‘And if I play pro, I play pro, and if I don’t, it’s okay.’ So that made it a lot more easygoing this time.”
After signing with the Twins, Dalquist spent the summer in Florida for a week-long draft training camp, eventually getting assigned to play for the team’s rookie ball affiliate, the Florida Complex League Twins. Spring training will start again in February. Currently, Dalquist is back in California for off-season training camps.
“I’m having a great time out here, and it’s really cool to be a pro baseball player,” Dalquist said.
