Conley, other Panthers snubbed on draft day

The Pitt baseball team was shutout on Thursday and Friday.

Oddly enough, the season ended… The Pitt baseball team was shutout on Thursday and Friday.

Oddly enough, the season ended weeks ago.

Despite a monster senior season by outfielder Sean Conley and durable talent elsewhere on the diamond, the Panthers did not have one player selected in last week’s Major League Baseball draft.

This is a rare feat for the Pitt club. The last time the Panthers failed to yield at least one pick in the draft was in 2001, only the second occurrence in 10 years.

Professional scouts might have been scared off because of Pitt’s down season. The Panthers won only 19 games in 2008 after reaching the Big East tournament three of the past four years.

Despite the team’s record, Pitt’s seniors put up good numbers and placed themselves within reach of the draft, especially Conley.

Conley batted .317 and paced the Panthers in nearly every other offensive category. He slammed 11 home runs, collected 48 RBIs and compiled 71 hits while starting all 53 games.

Pitt head coach Joe Jordano was surprised Conley, or any Panther, wasn’t selected.

“I really thought some team would give [Conley] a shot,” said Jordano. “We have had a trend of at least two or three players going each year. I believe that our seniors, including Sean, had enough talent to get an opportunity at the next level.”

Infielder Dan Williams, catcher Nick Mullins and pitcher Rob Brant were also draft hopefuls.

“All of our guys had some interest throughout the year,” said Jordano. “We had several inquiries from pro scouts on them, and we send weekly updates to them throughout the year.”

Although the draft was Panther-less, that doesn’t necessarily mean that one of the seniors won’t find his way onto a professional roster at some point.

Jordano said that he thinks Brant has a tryout with the Washington Wild Things, an independent team, some time this week.

“I would assume that Sean, Danny, Nick and Rob would all love the opportunity to play at the next level,” said Jordano. “I will continue to work as much as I can to provide all of them with the opportunity to play somewhere professionally this summer.”

A Pitt-Bradford pitcher did see his name appear on the draft board. Zachary Foster was chosen by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 49th round.