Princeton Baseball in the Pros

Major League Baseball Players

The Princeton baseball team has produced 27 Major Leaguers since its inception in the late 19th century. Many of those players ascended to the Major Leagues in the early 1900s but Princeton has seen a resurgence recently as the Tigers currently have three alums (As of July 1st, 2016) on Major League rosters. The three include Matt Bowman, Ross Ohlendorf and Chris Young. Princeton also had David Hale and Will Venable reach the majors in 2016.

Princeton had had eight Major League players since the end of World War II with John Easton playing for Philadelphia in the 1950s, Dave Sisler pitching for four teams in the late 50s and early 60s and Bob Tufts pitching for San Francisco and Kansas City in the early 1980s.

Below is the complete list of Princeton's Major Leaguers with the years and teams each played with:

Moe Berg (1923-39; Brooklyn, Chicago AL, Cleveland, Washington, Boston)
Dan Bickham (1886; Cincinnati)
Matt Bowman (2016; St. Louis)
Charlie Caldwell (1925; New York AL)
Fred Winchell (1909; Cleveland)
John Easton (1955-59; Philadelphia)
Leonidas Lee (1877; St. Louis)
Hy Gunning (1911; Boston)
David Hale (2013-16; Atlanta, Colorado)
Homer Hillebrand (1905-08; Pittsburgh)
Duke Kelleher (1916; New York Giants)
Charles Lear (1914-15; Cincinnati)
Waddy MacPhee (1922; New York Giants)
Thomas McNamara (1922; Pittsburgh)
Dutch Meier (1906; Pittsburgh)
Ross Ohlendorf (2007-present; New York AL, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Washington, Texas, Cincinnati)
Ted Reed (1915; Newark)
Roger Salmon (1912; Philadelphia AL)
Dave Sisler (1956-62; Boston, Detroit, Washington, Cincinnati)
Dutch Sterrett (1912-13; New York AL)
Roy Talcott (1943; Boston NL)
Bob Tufts (1981-83; San Francisco, Kansas City)
Bobby Vaughn (1909-15; New York AL, St. Louis)
Will Venable (2008-present; San Diego, Texas, Los Angeles NL)
Woody Wagenhorst (1888; Philadelphia NL)
Stephen White (1912; Washington, Boston NL)
Chris Young (2004-present; Texas, San Diego, New York NL, Seattle, Kansas City)

2016 Roster of Professionals (As of July 1st, 2016)

Princeton has had five players, Chris Young '02 (Kansas City Royals), Matt Bowman (St. Louis Cardinals), David Hale '11 (Colorado Rockies), Ross Ohlendorf '05 (Cincinnati Reds) and Will Venable (Los Angeles Dodgers) reach the majors this year.

Major League Roster

Chris Young '02 – Kansas City Royals
Young's Baseball Reference Page

Ross Ohlendorf '05 - Cincinnati Reds (MLB)
Ohlendorf's Baseball Reference Page

Matt Bowman – St. Louis Cardinals (MLB)
Bowman's Baseball Reference Page

Minor League Roster

Will Venable – Oklahoma City Dodgers (AAA)
Venable's Baseball Reference Page

David Hale '11 – Norfolk Tides (AAA)
Hale's Baseball Reference Page

Tyler Servais '15
Servais' Baseball Reference Page

Alec Keller – Potomac Nationals (A+)
Keller's Baseball Reference Page

Mike Fagan'14
Fagan's Baseball Reference Page

Mike Ford – Tampa Bay Yankees (A+)
Ford's Baseball Reference Page

Jack Murphy – Oklahoma City Dodgers (AAA)
Murphy's Baseball Reference Page

Princeton and the MLB Draft

The Princeton baseball team has seen 43 of its players be drafted in the Major League Baseball amateur entry draft since the draft began in 1965. Eighteen of those picks have occurred since 2000.

Robert Schiffner is Princeton's highest ever draft pick. He was selected 37th overall in the 1971 June secondary draft by the New York Yankees. At the time, high school players were drafted in a January draft and college players were chosen in June. Princeton's next two highest picks were B.J. Szymanski and Thomas Pauly, picked in 2004 and 2003 respectively, both by the Cincinnati Reds in the second round of the draft.

Four of Princeton's draft choices have made it to the Major Leagues. Chris Young was selected 89th overall in 2000 in the third round by Pittsburgh and made it to the Majors with Texas before being traded to San Diego. Ross Ohlendorf was the 116th pick in the fourth round of the 2004 draft by Arizona and made it to the Majors with the New York Yankees before a trade to Pittsburgh. Will Venable was picked twice, following his junior and senior seasons. He was the 218th pick in the seventh round by San Diego when he signed in 2005 and he reached the Majors with the Padres. Lastly, Bob Tufts, the 296th pick in the the 12th round of the 1977 draft made it the Major Leagues with San Francisco, the team that drafted him, and also played for Kansas City.

Below is a list of all of Princeton's draft picks since 1965.

Pick	Round	Year	Player	MLB Team	Highest Level Reached (Current Team)
37	2	1971	Robert Schiffner !	New York Yankees	A
48	2	2004	B.J. Szymanski	Cincinnati Reds	AAA
51	2	2003	Thomas Pauly	Cincinnati Reds	A+
83	4	1971	Ray Huard #	Detroit Tigers	A+
87	3	2009	David Hale	Atlanta Braves	*MLB (Norfolk Tides AAA)**
89	3	2000	Chris Young	Pittsburgh Pirates	*MLB (Kansas City Royals MLB)**
116	4	2004	Ross Ohlendorf	Arizona Diamondbacks	*MLB (Cincinnati Reds MLB)**
197	8	1986	Drew Stratton	Oakland Athletics	A+
213	9	1983	Steve Kordish	Texas Rangers	AA
218	7	2005	Will Venable	San Diego Padres	*MLB (Oklahoma City Dodgers AAA)**
272	11	1985	Mike Fiala	Los Angeles Dodgers	A+
276	11	1981	Mark Lockenmeyer	Detroit Tigers	AA
282	9	2014	Mike Fagan '14	Oakland A's	A+
283	12	1969	Michael Fremuth	Detroit Tigers	AAA
296	12	1977	Bob Tufts	San Francisco Giants	MLB
368	19	1965	Jack Singer	St. Louis Cardinals	AA
410	13	2012	Matt Bowman	New York Mets	*MLB (St. Louis Cardinals MLB)**
424	18	1976	Mark Softy	New York Yankees	AA
439	15	2004	Will Venable $	Baltimore Orioles	*MLB (San Diego Padres MLB)**
444	17	1986	Dan Arendas	New York Yankees	AA
458	18	1980	Roderick Shepard	Houston Astros	R
463	16	2004	Steve Young	Detroit Tigers	A
484	21	1970	Ray Huard $	Atlanta Braves	R
492	21	1973	Gary Blevins	New York Yankees	A-
514	17	2014	Alec Keller	Washington Nationals	A+ (Potomac Nationals)
583	12	1982	Steve Kordish $	Cleveland Indians	AA
601	20	2004	Tim Lahey	Minnesota Twins	AAA
624	24	1989	Jeff Barton	San Diego Padres	A-
653	29	1972	William Binder	San Francisco Giants	R
654	22	2002	Scott Hindman	California Angels	A
718	24	2002	Pat Boran	Boston Red Sox	A+
726	24	2009	Brad Gemberling	Arizona Diamondbacks	A+
737	33	1968	Stephen Cushmore	Detroit Tigers	AA
801	26	2007	Sal Iacono	Houston Astros	A
820	27	2015	Tyler Servais	Detroit Tigers	R
838	28	2000	Buster Small	Toronto Blue Jays	A-
888	30	2013	Zak Hermans	Chicago Cubs	AAA
891	54	1967	Thomas Peppler	Cincinnati Reds	A-
922	31	1998	Michael Hazen	San Diego Padres	A
940	31	2009	Jack Murphy	Toronto Blue Jays	AAA* (Oklahoma City Dodgers)
950	31	2008	Spencer Lucian	New York Yankees	R
1017	33	2012	Sam Mulroy	Los Angeles Angels	AAA
1056	35	2010	Dan Barnes	Toronto Blue Jays	AAA * (Buffalo Bison)
1085	36	2010	Bobby Geren $%	Oakland Athletics	-
1074	42	1988	Greg Kuzma	Texas Rangers	R
1098	36	2011	Tyler Servais $%	Colorado Rockies	-
1182	39	2008	Christian Staehely	Seattle Mariners	A
1271	46	1994	Matthew Golden	St. Louis Cardinals	AA
1276	42	2011	Brett Geren $%	Oakland Athletics	-
1345	46	1996	Mike Ciminiello	Detroit Tigers	A-
1354	45	2010	Michael Fagan $%	San Diego Padres	-
1366	46	2005	Worth Lumry	Seattle Mariners	R
1401	56	1991	John Nash	San Diego Padres	A
1417	48	1999	Scott Hindman $%	Cincinnati Reds	A
@		1996	Tom Hage	Baltimore Orioles	AA
@		1999	Justin Griffin	Cleveland Indians	A
@		2005	Brian Kappel	Seattle Mariners	A+
@		2006	Erik Stiller	Cleveland Indians	AA
@		2008	Steven Miller	Kansas City Royals	R
@		2009	Dan DeGeorge	Cleveland Indians	AA
@		2013	Mike Ford	New York Yankees	A+

* Currently Active
! June Secondary Draft
# January Draft
@ Undrafted Signees
$ Drafted but did not Sign
% Drafted out of High School

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