Penn's record MLB draft class is a positive sign for future

The school-record four MLB draft picks Penn produced last week were around last year, too. But they could not attract pro teams' attention to University City.

This spring, that changed. Scouts warmed up to the hard-throwing arms on Penn's pitching staff. On June 14, the results followed — righthander Billy Lescher to the Detroit Tigers in the 17th round, righthander Jake Cousins to the Washington Nationals in the 20th round, lefthander Adam Bleday to the Houston Astros in the 27th round, and righthander Jake Nelson to the Detroit Tigers in the 33rd round.

No Penn player has gone in the first 10 rounds since Mark DeRosa in 1996. The Quakers have not made the NCAA tournament since the year before that. But coach John Yurkow hopes that this year's record-breaking crop is at least a start to building a strong program.

"To sit down in front of a family and a prospective student-athlete and be able to talk about that, it's real," Yurkow said. "It's right there in front of them. It's concrete."

As with most evolution in college sports, the process started years ago on the recruiting trail. Since Yurkow took over for fired predecessor John Cole in 2013, professional futures have sparked more conversation with recruits. Some were more interested than others. Bleday, who signed with Virginia out of high school, said he always had the major leagues in mind. Cousins, the only player of the bunch to play four years at Penn, agreed the process had roots long ago.

"Us going in there our freshman years, it didn't look like we were going to be professional athletes," Cousins said. "But the coaches and weight training staff got us a lot better, and here we are today."

Yurkow's second full recruiting class in 2015, which included Bleday and Nelson, ranked No. 86 on Perfect Game's recruiting rankings. Ivy League schools are scarce on that list. Penn's four draft picks last week formed the Ivy's second-largest class ever, behind Princeton's five in 2004.

And if the Quakers can continue that success, pairing a draft pipeline with a top-level education, more prospects could be on their way to Philadelphia soon.

"You have one guy drafted, then you have another guy drafted, and then scouts start to realize, 'Hey, these guys are doing a good job developing this talent, and they really do have kids that want to move on and play professionally,' " Yurkow said. "The scouts start to trust that a little bit more."

Even with four draft picks, Penn finished just 23-22 this season and lost in the Ivy championship series against Yale. Bleday and Cousins both graduated and signed contracts. Yurkow said Lescher is also leaning toward signing. Nelson, only a sophomore, could return.

Penn will need to find more talent to fill those gaps, but this year's draft results give the school reason to believe it can.