On Aug. 14, senior pitcher Aiden Chen announced his verbal commitment to play Division 3 (D3) baseball at Claremont McKenna through their baseball program, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Chen, who has been playing baseball since age 9 and experienced success with both club teams and the school team, started reaching out to schools at the beginning of his sophomore year. However, he didn’t start receiving serious interest until this past January.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps coaches first saw Chen in June at the Bay Area World Series. After watching the star left-handed pitcher throw, Claremont reached out to him to express interest.
Prior to the showcase, Chen didn’t know anything about the school and had already received some interest from other schools.
For Claremont’s recruitment process, Chen passed the “pre-read” — a process where a student’s academic portfolio is reviewed by the college — and was invited to an online meeting with the school’s head coach. Finally, Chen visited the school with the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. He officially received his offer on July 15.
By the time he received Claremont’s offer, he already had a few other offers. However, many of the schools stated that they would only extend an offer to Chen if he visited, which he felt was unnecessary since he had already visited Claremont’s campus and felt it was the perfect fit.
“Academically and athletically, the fit is great,” he said. “Last year, they were ranked 18th in D3 baseball. They’re getting a brand new baseball field that’s going to be ready in January of my freshman year and a new science building, which is really nice for me since I’m majoring in psychology.”
In addition, Chen said Claremont provides a comfortable environment that he is looking for as part of his college experience.
“I used to think I was a big-school guy, but I love the small-school vibe more than I expected, and the more I thought about it, the more I felt like I would fit in well with a small-school environment,” Chen said.
Though Chen officially announced his commitment on Instagram in August, he thinks he subconsciously finalized his decision soon after receiving the offer. Chen said he feels relieved and grateful to have found his next home.
“I think I was mentally committed to the school a long time before I actually committed, I just took a little bit of extra time to be sure. Right now, I’m just excited and really spirited,” Chen said.
