About one third of the players on the current Eastern baseball team have a chance of competing at the next level, head coach Jim Schmitz said.

The Panthers have had 63 alumni drafted since 1952 and eight of them have made it to the major leagues.

The most recent draft picks were shortstop Kyle Haines (San Francisco Giants) and second baseman Chris Uhle (Houston Astros) in 2004. In 2003 the Montreal Expos drafted catcher Brett Pignatiello and the St. Louis Cardinals drafted right-handed pitcher Jordan Pals.

Haines is currently Eastern’s only active player in the minors. Haines is a shortstop for the San Jose Giants; a Class A affiliate for the San Francisco Giants.

“We are a little thin right now,” Schmitz said. “We had some numbers (in the minors) but we have some younger guys with talent and hopefully we will have a lot more. That isn’t our ultimate goal. It’s to bring kids in and get them a good education and all that good stuff but a couple times they get through it.”

Uhle was drafted by the Astros and played for a year before being released in the spring of 2005.

Pals played last season for the Springfield (Mo.) Cardinals, but Pals was released last week from the team.

Schmitz said Pals seemed optimistic about getting picked up by another team when Schmitz talked to him last week.

“That is kind of how it is in the minors,” Schmitz said. “They’ll say they love you and then the next year release you.”

The players that have advanced to the minors will often come back to Eastern and talk to the current players.

Uhle said he doesn’t tell the current players much, unless they ask.

But he does emphasize the importance of hard work and the difficulty of professional pitching.

“You have to work hard because everyone you face in the minors was a No. 1 on a college team,” Uhle said. “In college you have your No. 1 guy and it tapers off as you go down. In the minors everyone has dirty stuff you have to watch out for.”

Uhle said in his first intra-squad practice he faced someone throwing 100 mph and knew right then what the intensity of the minors was like.

Uhle said he keeps track of the players that were underclassmen when he was a senior.

Senior catcher Jason Cobb was a freshman when Uhle and Haines were seniors. Cobb said those two were leaders on the team and helped the current seniors learn how to fulfill the leadership role.

“Everything Haines did was about the game of baseball,” Cobb said. “On the bus, when we’d be watching movies he’d be reading Baseball America or something.”

Teammates and coaches say that senior first baseman Erik Huber displays the same kind of work ethic and has a good chance of being drafted this year.

Huber said he loves the opportunity to learn from the different information and tips about hitting that players like Haines and Uhle give about what the minors are like.

The one thing Schmitz said all the drafted players had was a real understanding of the game.

“They weren’t just a hitter, or a great pitcher, or a fielder but they seemed to be a little ahead of other players because they knew what was going on, on offense or defense,” he said. “They were ahead of others in terms of baseball wise and it set them apart.”

Schmitz said the alumni help to give current players a sense of hope.

“I think some times at Eastern, players think because they are not at LSU or whatever, that they wont make to the next level and that’s crazy,” Schmitz said. “It’s the same game.”

Former Eastern shortstop Kyle Haines (left) and former second baseman Chris Uhle were drafted in the 2004 MLB draft. They are the last Panthers to be drafted. (The Daily Eastern News File Photo)

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