Former Maryland infielder Eddie Hacopian put together one of the best seasons in program history as a junior in 2024, hitting .377/.474/.573 with nine homers and 51 RBIs.
He had built on the success of his sophomore year, seemingly positioning himself perfectly to head to pro ball. He prepared accordingly as July came around, hosting an MLB Draft party with close friends and family.
However, as the rounds went by, Hacopian’s phone remained cold: no calls, no contact from MLB teams. In the end, the first-team All-Big Ten selection went undrafted, a shock to many, including Hacopian himself.
“You have to recognize that it’s out of your control,” Hacopian said. “After last year, it was shocking. I kind of felt blindsided by it.”
It was a situation that no one expected, but it quickly became reality. Rather than dwell on what hadn’t happened, Hacopian returned to Maryland this spring with a fire having been lit under him.
The Potomac native continued his prolific college career as a senior. Hacopian hit .274/.377/.461 with 10 homers and 48 RBIs. His three years with the Terps saw him put up numbers seldom seen in College Park — 231 hits, 27 home runs, 148 RBIs — but he wanted to keep playing.
Sure enough, there was a spot for him this summer with the Frederick Keys in the wood-bat MLB Draft League.
“I wanted to attack it up front and show these people and myself that I really love baseball,” Hacopian said. “I love being on the field. I remember the first few days I was here, looking around, it was outstanding. I kept thinking to myself, ‘This is where I belong.’ I belong on a baseball field.”
The Draft League is the final stop for Hacopian to polish off his resume since he’s out of college eligibility at this point. He is hitting .300/.415/.420 in 26 games while playing mostly second base. He is hoping to be taken in the 2025 MLB Draft (July 13-14) or sign with a club after the draft.
Hacopian has been able to bounce questions off of former big leaguers with the Keys.
“I immediately realized that [Hacopian] was a very smart player,” Keys manager Preston Wilson said. “The way he moved, the decisions he was making, I knew he was intelligent, but above and beyond that, he wants it. That’s a prerequisite for any of this: you have to want it, go out there and get the work done. I see that in him. I see the desire to get better.”
Wilson was a first-round pick in the 1992 MLB Draft and played in the big leagues from 1998-2007. He knows what it takes to get to that point and has talked about it extensively with his team, especially Hacopian.
“It’s human nature to remember that you’ve been in this process before and you feel like you have to do more,” Wilson said. “My job right now is to remind the guys that you can only do what you can do and when you play outside yourself, you do things that are uncharacteristic, stuff that’s not in your ability.”
Learning from those who have done it before has been beneficial and helpful in allowing Hacopian to focus on the game at hand rather than anything outside of his control.
The environment from last summer to this summer is also different, having played just two games in the Cape Cod Baseball League before getting hurt. That meant thoughts of the draft and only the draft crept into his mind.
This summer, he has been healthy and has just worried about the baseball in front of him, not the baseball that might come later.
“There are a lot of players in the same shoes as you, so you get to pick their brains about it and talk about it,” Hacopian said. “It’s kind of like therapy and it’s really been great. … Being able to play through that and working to be the best ballplayer you can be, that’s the most important thing. If you’ve already proven yourself, everything else will fall into place.”
There are no plans of draft parties this year — just a round of golf, anything to just keep his mind off of it — but he is confident he has put his best foot forward to hear his name called.
“Baseball is all about learning about yourself and nothing is going to get you ready and help you learn like actually playing in a game,” Hacopian said. “I want to show these scouts that I’m a power guy, I’m a gap-to-gap hitter. … I feel like I’m a much better ball player today than I was a year ago and I’m excited for the future.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Frederick Keys