June 7, 2004

EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern pitchers J.A. Happ (Peru, Ill./St. Bede Academy) and Dan Konecny (Ripon, Wis./Ripon) and catcher Dan Pohlman (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) were chosen on day one of the 2004 Major League Baseball Amateur draft. The MLB draft takes place June 7-8. Happ was a third-round (92nd overall) choice of the Philadelphia Phillies, Pohlman was a 15th-round (446 overall) selection by the Arizona Diamondbacks and Konecny was a 17th-round (493 overall) pick of the Detroit Tigers.

Happ, a junior left handed pitcher, was the first pitcher chosen by the Phillies and third pick overall. Happ followed outfielder Greg Olson (Conallay High School) and catcher Jason Jaramillo (Oklahoma State) in the Phillies draft order. Happ was also the third Big Ten player chosen, following Glen Perkins (1st round, 22nd overall) of Minnesota and Scott Lewis (3rd round, 77th overall) from Ohio State.

Pohlman began his collegiate career as a two-sport athlete, playing both baseball and football at Northwestern. On the diamond, Pohlman played a myriad of positions, settling in at catcher his senior year The first year signal caller was voted team co-MVP, hitting .350 with eight home runs and 42 RBI. He ended 2004 12th in the Big Ten in both batting average and RBI.

Pohlman hit 33 doubles, 18 home runs and drove in 90 runs during his Wildcat career.

Konecny was the Tigers second pick in the 17th round, giving NU three draft picks for the first time since 1996. Konecny stumbled a bit in 2004 after finishing third in the Big Ten in ERA his junior year. The Wisconsin native pitched 236.1 career innings, striking out 161. He appeared in 58 games, starting 37 and recorded three saves.

Happ, Pohlman and Konecny are the 37th, 38th and 39th Wildcats to be drafted in the 17-year tenure of head coach Paul Stevens, 20 of which have been pitchers. The trio also continues a streak that has seen at least one player drafted every year since 1983.

As one of NU's highest draft picks in school history, Happ concluded his collegiate baseball career after his junior season, making it two-consecutive years an underclassman has been taken early. Outfielder David Gresky was selected in the 39th round by the Chicago Cubs in 2003. With Pohlman's 15th-round selection, it marks the first time since 1995-96 position players have been drafted in back-to-back years.

Happ's name is spotted all over the NU record books, as the Illinois native led the Big Ten in ERA two of the last three years. He is seventh in career ERA (2.88) and fourth in career strikeouts (251), pitching 228.1 innings in his first three seasons. He needed just 38 punch-outs to tie Zach Schara (1999-02) atop the Wildcat K list.

In those 228.1 innings pitched, Happ gave up 211 hits in 848 total at-bats, holding opposing hitters to a .249 career batting average. He also averaged 1.1 strikeouts per inning, and 9.9 Ks per nine innings. This season, he struck out 106 batters in 94.0 innings pitched, becoming just the second Wildcat to ever strike out over 100 batters in a season, and it is just the third time in school history. Brad Neidermaier (1992-95) did it twice, striking out 105 in 1994 and a school record 109 in 1995.

Happ's 2.68 earned-run average led the Big Ten, making him the first Wildcat in history to lead the conference in ERA on two separate occasions. Brad Brasser was the last Wildcat to led the league in ERA, ending 1996 with a 1.93 earned-run average. Happ earned Collegiate Baseball honorable mention All-America honors his freshman year (2002), leading the league with a 2.10 ERA in 21 appearances.