UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State baseball junior catcher Matt Wood was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the fourth round, 132nd overall, in the 2022 MLB Draft. The MLB Draft continues with rounds 11-20 on Tuesday, beginning at 2 p.m. with coverage on MLB.com.
Wood became the highest-selected position player in program history. The previous highest was catcher Ben Heath who went in the fifth round, 153rd overall, to the Houston Astros in 2010.
The junior is Penn State's highest selection since pitcher Drew O'Neil went in the fourth round, 120th overall, to the Chicago White Sox in 2008.
Wood was the third Big Ten player to be selected in 2022 and the first college player selected from a Pennsylvania school.
The Gibsonia, Pa. native is the 77th player selected out of Penn State and the program's eighth catcher to be drafted. He's Penn State's first catcher to be drafted since Ryan Sloniger (38th round, Blue Jays) in 2019. Wood is also the 15th Top-10 round selection in program history. Penn State has a Top-10 round pick in three of the last four drafts with Wood joining pitchers Dante Biasi (6th, Kansas City Royals; 2019) and Conor Larkin (9th, Toronto Blue Jays; 2021).
Wood is Penn State's 12th draft pick under head coach Rob Cooper and the ninth Pennsylvania native to be drafted out of Penn State since 2016.
"We are so fired up for Matt to realize his dream of playing professional baseball," said Cooper. "He has worked extremely hard to get this opportunity and now the real work begins. Congratulations Woody, the Brewers are getting a good one!"
The two-time All-Big Ten selection has played in 107 games, including 106 starts, as a Nittany Lion. He has a career .340 average with 132 hits, including 26 doubles, four triples and 16 homers. Wood has driven in 79 runs and scored 81, while maintaining a .552 slugging percentage and a .437 on-base percentage.
In 2022, Wood was named CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team and first-team All-Big Ten. He finished the season with a .379 average and a 1.147 OPS. The Gibsonia, Pa. native notched 75 hits, 15 doubles, three triples, 12 homers, 53 RBI and 55 runs. Wood won the Big Ten regular season batting title with a .395 average, including .413 in Big Ten games.
He finished the season ranked fourth in the conference in on-base percentage (.480), fifth in slugging percentage (.667) and second in OPS.
Among PSU season records, Wood's 2022 campaign sits eighth in hits (75), fourth in runs (55), eighth in RBI (53), ninth in slugging percentage (.667), ninth in homers (12), sixth in total bases (132) and seventh in walks (36).
Wood's 2022 season including a 26-game hit streak, from March 25 to May 9, and a 36-game reached-base streak. The 26-game hit streak is the second-longest in program history.
Defensively, Wood helped the Nittany Lions' pitching staff to post a program-record 503 strikeouts.
In 2021, Wood hit .295 with 41 hits, 21 RBI and 22 runs to be tabbed second-team All-Big Ten. He batted .314 with 16 hits in a shortened 2020 season.
The supply chain and information systems major is a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and a two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar.
Wood led Penn State to the Big Ten Tournament, where the Nittany Lions earned a 5-2 win over Iowa. The Nittany Lions won 26 games in 2022, including 11 wins in Big Ten contests.
The 2022 Penn State baseball season is presented by The Family Clothesline.
