Pasadena City College baseball alumnus and righthanded pitcher Jakob Guardado, the South Coast Conference MVP in 2023, signed a free agent contract as an undrafted rookie with the Los Angeles Angels today.

Guardado was one of a number of college and high school players throughout the country signed as undrafted free agents by Major League Baseball teams after the conclusion of the MLB Draft held on Sunday-Monday, July 13-14. 

He recently finished his college career after two seasons at NCAA Division I University of Pacific. He pitched 115.2 innings with 68 strikeouts in 30 appearances for the Tigers in 2024-2025, earning West Coast Conference All-Academic honorable mention honors. 

At PCC in 2022-23, Guardado excelled as both a pitcher and outfielder. From Beckman High in Tustin, Guardado had a banner sophomore season where he several late-inning hits to win games for PCC and pitched an amazing two complete games in a span of six days in beating Long Beach, then hurling a 5-hit shutout over Mt. San Antonio. He did not allow a walk and recorded 13 strikeouts in those two pitching victories. 

On the mound, he was 6-1 with 65 strikeouts in 83 innings in '23 and finished with a 9-2 career PCC mark. As a batter, he hit three homers and drove in 34 runs and hit .305 in both of his Lancers seasons.

Guardado played at PCC under Lancers head coach Pat McGee, who has seen three of his student-athletes join MLB organizations in the last year. 

Guardado was selected as PCC's 2022-23 Men's Athlete of the Year for all sports

Jakob is the son of former MLB closer and 2-time All-Star Eddie Guardado, who pitched 17 seasons in the big leagues from 1993-2009, most famously with the Minnesota Twins. 

Here is a recent feature by UOP Public Relations on Jakob with quotes from his father: https://www.pacific.edu/pacific-newsroom/pacifics-guardado-inspired-fathers-major-league-success