Last year, thirteen Ivy Leaguers were chosen in the Major League Baseball draft -- including two Penn players. The Ancient Eight experienced a slight drop this year as only eight players heard their names on draft day.
The draft's first Ivy League selection was Princeton's Will Venable in the seventh round. The San Diego Padres selected him with the 218th overall pick. The only Penn student selected was Nick Pulos, whom the Oakland Athletics drafted in the 38th round.
Pulos will not heed the call of the Major Leagues this year. Instead, he will seek to finish out his Penn career before making the jump to a professional career.
Six of the eight league institutions were represented in this year's draft. Yale pitcher Josh Sowers was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the tenth round. The Blue Jays also took Eric Larson, a Brown outfielder, in the 44th round.
Matt Kutler, the 2005 Ivy League player of the year, was the first pick of the draft's second day as the Marlins selected him in the 24th round. Dartmouth pitcher Josh Faiola was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 32nd round. Princeton pitcher Worth "Rufus" Lowry was taken by the Seattle Mariners in the 46th round. Harvard's John Wolff rounded out the draft for the League when he was taken by the Chicago White Sox in the 47th round.
However the draft process began long before the actual draft took place on June seventh and eighth. These players have had the attention of teams and scouts for months if not years.
Players of such a high caliber have been performing before team scouts throughout their careers in collegiate games and at showcases. This process may begin as early as freshman or sophomore year for some Ivy Leaguers. Of course, some truly talented players may be scouted in high school.
Most Ivy Leaguers never receive the star treatment of a high-round draft pick and the money that goes along with such a position. In fact, most Ivy Leaguers are happy just to be drafted at all. They are glad to have the opportunity to challenge themselves at the next level and to try to prove that they are capable of playing professional baseball.
The day of the draft can be a nervous as well as exhilarating process. One player said he listened to the radio all day long in hope that he would hear his name announced. When his name was eventually called he also received a phone call from the team owner, congratulating him on his selection.
The sole Penn player selected in the draft is disillusioned with the way Penn prepares its players for the possibility of being drafted. He said Penn does little to expose the varsity players to current Major Leaguers. For example, former Penn players and major leaguers Mark DeRosa and Doug Glanville, seldom, if ever, meet with current Penn players.
The player claims that the draft is a tremendously political process, and the Ivy League and Penn are often overlooked by scouts. He claims that the outgoing Penn coaching staff did little to pressure players to be drafted and equally little to encourage Major League teams to draft Penn players.
His case-in-point was the example of Nick Italiano. Italiano, a 2003 graduate was Penn's all time hit leader yet did not get drafted. However, Italiano's story was not complete disappointment, as he later signed with the Phillies as a rookie free agent.
