June 7, 2005
The Philadelphia Phillies selected Notre Dame senior first baseman Matt Edwards (Mechanicsville, Va.) in the 16th round of the 2005 Major League Draft, near the end of Tuesday’s 18 rounds of selections. The draft concludes on Wednesday, typically after 50 rounds of selections.
Edwards – who missed most of his freshman season (2002) due to a broken leg – has been approved for a fifth year of eligibility at Notre Dame in 2006, should he elect not to sign with the Phillies. He joins 40 previous Notre Dame players in the 11-year Paul Mainieri era who have been drafted or signed free-agent contracts.
One of seven Notre Dame players ever to earn first team all-BIG EAST Conference honors in multiple seasons (’03 and ’05), Edwards ranks as one of the top power hitters and run producers in the program’s history – owning the 5th-most career RBI (195) in the ND record book while also ranking 6th in career home runs (34), 7th in doubles (51), 11th in hits (244) and walks (106), and 17th in batting average (.345).
Edwards finished as the BIG EAST leader in 2005 for overall RBI (68; 12th in ND history) and walks (46; 7th ND history) while ranking 2nd in home runs (14; 9th ND history) and total bases (147; 10th ND history), 3rd in hits (82), 4th in slugging pct. (.645) and OPS (1.112 on-base plus slugging), runs (60) and doubles (21; 7th ND history), 6th in on-base pct. (.467) and 11th in batting avg. (.353). He led Notre Dame in eight of those categories – slugging, home runs, RBI, runs, hits, doubles, walks and total bases – while also ranking 2nd on the team in batting avg. and on-base pct. and 5th in stolen bases (7). Edwards joined freshman 2B/3B Brett Lilley as the only Irish players to start all 63 games in ’05 (SS Greg Lopez was only other to play in all 63).
The only Notre Dame player since 1998 to hit three home runs in a game (vs. Western Michigan, on March 29, 2005), Edwards also joined former teammate Matt Macri as one of just three Notre Dame players ever to reach 80 hits and 40 walks in the same season (82 H, 46 BB, in ’05).
An updated bio. capsule on Edwards follows below (also see preseason bio. for pre-2005 data, linked via the baseball roster page at und.com).
Matt Edwards Updated Career Bio. (2005 Senior, 1B/3B; Mechanicsville, VA/Lee-Davis HS; 6-2/225, Bats/Throws: Right) – became seventh ND player to earn 1st team all-BIG EAST honors in multiple seasons (’03 and ’05) … … first ND player to earn 1st team all-BIG EAST honors at 1B … finished as the BIG EAST leader in overall RBI (68) and walks (46) while ranking 2nd in home runs (14) and total bases (147), 3rd in hits (82), 4th in slugging pct. (.645), runs (60) and doubles (21), 6th in on-base pct. (.467) and 11th in batting avg. (.353) … his 1.112 OPS (on-base plus slugging) ranked 4th among all BIG EAST players … in conference games only, he finished 4th among BIG EAST players in doubles (8), 5th in RBI (20), 6th in walks (15) … finished as ND team leader in eight categories: slugging pct. (.634), home runs (14), RBI (68), runs (60), hits (82), doubles (21), walks (46) and total bases (147) … joined freshman 2B/3B Brett Lilley as only players to start all 63 games (SS Greg Lopez was only other to play in all 63) … also ranked 2nd on team in batting avg. (.353) and on-base pct. (.467) and 5th in stolen bases (7) … led team with 25 multiple-hit games (2 w/ 4 hits, 5 w/ 3 hits) and 17 multi-RBI games (1 w/ 5 RBI, 2 w/ 4 RBI, 6 w/ 3 RBI) … his other ’05 stats included 6 times hit-by-pitch, 36 strikeouts, a triple and 14 errors (.972 fielding pct.) … led team in 2-out RBI (22) and leadoff on-base pct.(.581) … also ranked 2nd on team in batting vs. both righthanded pitchers (.356) and LHPs (.345), plus 3rd in batting with runners on base (.362), in scoring position (.337) and with 2 outs (.320) … hit 3-for-8 with the bases loaded … delivered the RBI 63% of the time with a runner on 3rd and fewer than 2 outs (17-of-27) … named MVP of 2005 BIG EAST Tournament, after batting 5-for-13 with 4 RBI (5 R, HR, 2 2B, BB, 3 Ks, SB, E), including a 2-run HR and RBI double in the 11-4 title game vs. Pittsburgh … hit a combined .250 (11-for-44) in ’03-’05 NCAA Regional play (12 GS, 8 RBI, 2 HR, 5 R, 3B, 2 2B, 6 BB, 16 Ks) … ranked 2nd on team with .529 batting in final week of ’05 regular season (9-for-17, 5 RBI, 5 R, 2 2B, 7 BB, 2 Ks, SB, 2 Es) … hit .329 in ’05 BIG EAST regular-season games (20 RBI, 2 HR, 8 2B, 15 BB) … ranks 5th in ND history with 195 career RBI, 6th with 34 HRs, 7th with 51 doubles, 11th with 244 hits and 106 walks, and 17th with a .345 career batting avg. … his other career stats include 1,228 putouts (5th in ND history), 151 runs, 4 triples, 405 total bases, a .572 slugging pct., 20 HBP, 121 Ks, .438 on-base, 3 sac. bunts, 15-20 SB, 708 at-bats and a .976 fielding pct. in 195 GP (192 GS) … 4th ND player with 80-plus hits and 40-plus walks in same season (Matt Macri, in ’04, was first to do so since 1989) … had rare stretch of 12 straight games with at least one walk (21 total BB) from April 29-May 18, ultimately drawing 23 walks in final 15 games of regular season … posted his second 4-hit game of ’05 in regular-season finale, vs. West Virginia (RBI, R, 2B, SB) … ranked 3rd on ’05 team with +16 plate-discipline ratio (46 BB + 6 HBP – 36 Ks) … owns a .400 career batting avg. with 12 RBI in BIG EAST Tournament play (16-for-40, 2 HR, 3 2B, 6 BB) … ranked 3rd on ’05 team with .303 batting in all road games (35 RBI, 7 HR, 11 2B, 23 BB) plus team-best .420 in ’05 home games (33 RBI, 7 HR, 3B, 10 2B, 23 BB) … made 55 starts at 1B and 10 at 3B (plus a DH start) while batting in 3-hole for first 50 games, then in cleanup spot during final 13 games … has logged 86 consecutive starts with the Irish and has played in 186 of 189 games during the past three seasons (starting 184), since returning from broken leg that halted his freshman season early in ’02 … first ND player since ’98 to hit 3 HRs in a game (vs. Western Michigan on 3/29; 6 RBI, 2 IBB) … launched grand slam vs. Texas-San Antonio and homered next day vs. Southwest Missouri, as part of all-tournament performance at the 2005 Alamo City Irish Baseball Classic … had rare HR at 5th/3rd Bank Ballpark in Grand Rapids, vs. Michigan (3 BB, 3 R, SB) … delivered from cleanup spot in 21-1 win at Pittsburgh (2-for-4, 4 RBI, R, 2B, BB) and in 13-6 upset of #17 USC (2-for-3, R, 2 BB) … hit 4-for-4 vs. Toledo (3 RBI, 2 R, HR, SB) … homered in opener vs. Florida A&M (RBI, 4 R, 2B, BB, HBP) … his 8-for-17 Dayton series included HR in 10-2 win (2 RBI, 3 R) … added HRs at Evansville and in game-2 vs. Georgetown … his 5-for-11 series vs. UConn included HR to dead-center field in series finale … helped secure 7-7 tie in season finale vs. Villanova (3-for-5, 3 RBI, R, 2 2B, BB) … his other HR in ’05 came vs. Ball State.