Princeton sends four to the Big Leagues

Hale, a right-handed pitcher on the baseball team who had just finished his junior year, was drafted in the third round by the Braves with the 87th overall pick in the MLB First-Year Player Draft. Hale is the third highest drafted baseball player from Princeton ever.

But this season, he is not alone. The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Brad Gemberling ’09 in the 24th round of the draft, while the Toronto Blue Jays picked catcher Jack Murphy ’10 in the 31st round.

“It was very nerve-wracking to sit there and watch the picks go by,” Hale said. “When the Braves came up and they said my name, it was only my mom, dad, brother and sister watching [the draft] with me, and they all went crazy. My mom was running around and calling all the relatives. It’s a really neat feeling now.”

Hale had a feeling the Braves were interested in taking him with their third-round pick. The Braves’ director of scouting had watched Hale pitch during Princeton’s 2-0 win over Cornell on April 24. It was one of Hale’s best outings of the year: The junior right-hander shut out the Big Red over six innings and struck out 10 batters. Hale went 2-3 in seven starts this past season with a 4.43 ERA.

“I had talked to most teams, and the Braves gave me an idea of where they liked me,” Hale said. “The Braves said that if I got down to them, there would be a good shot they would take me. They are real big on homegrown talent, so I thought there would be a pretty good shot. I’m just thankful it all worked out.”

After being drafted, Hale said he was eager to sign his first professional contract and begin playing in the Braves’ minor league organization.

“It should be a pretty quick process,” Hale said. “I’m not asking for an absurd amount of money above what the MLB says is the slotted amount for the pick. It should be a quick negotiation, and they’ll let me know where I go play.”

When Hale receives his first assignment, he will begin the long road to one day taking the mound for his beloved Braves. Hale said he hopes to follow in the footsteps of former Princeton pitchers Chris Young ’02 and Ross Ohlendorf ’04, both of whom are now starting pitchers in the major leagues: Young for the San Diego Padres and Ohlendorf for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“I’m nervous to go play all those different players, but I’m even more excited just to get the chance to do it,” Hale said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do since I started to play baseball as a kid.”

The Arizona Diamondbacks selected right-hander Brad Gemberling ’09 in the 24th round as the 726th overall pick. Gemberling, who went 5-3 this past season with a 6.67 ERA, led the Ivy League with 73 strikeouts this year and was also named an honorable mention all-Ivy League pitcher.

“Throughout the whole season, we had played in front of a number of scouts,” Gemberling said. “As the season wound down, scouts from various teams we played in front of let me know that I was on their draft board. On draft day, I had an idea based on various clips that I was projected anywhere from the 11th to the 25th round. It took about four hours, but in the 24th round I finally heard my name.”

Gemberling said he was relieved when he finally heard his name called.

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“It was absolutely a sense of relief,” he explained. “I had an idea I was going to be drafted somewhere. My main concern was that they were only doing the first 30 rounds on Wednesday, and I was worried I would have to go to bed without knowing where I was going to go. To be picked Wednesday instead of Thursday was a huge relief for me.”

The Toronto Blue Jays selected catcher Jack Murphy, just off his junior year of collegiate baseball, in the 31st round as the 940th overall pick in the draft. Murphy’s selection marked the first time since 2004 that three Princeton athletes had been drafted in the same season.

Dan DeGeorge ’09, who led the baseball team this season with a .349 batting average and 53 hits, signed with the Cleveland Indians. DeGeorge’s decision to bypass the draft is not uncommon among Princetonians, as he was the fourth graduating senior in five seasons to do just that.