ITHACA, N.Y. —
Paul Balestrieri '17,
Peter Lannoo '17 and senior
Justin Lewis were all selected at the 2017 Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft on Wednesday afternoon, bringing Cornell's total to six pitchers drafted on baseball's biggest stage over the last four years. This marks the first time in program history that the Big Red has three picks in the MLB draft since it started in 1965.
Balestrieri was the first to come off the board when the St. Louis Cardinals selected him in the 26th round. He was the Big Red's undeniable ace during his senior season, anchoring the rotation by pitching the final game every weekend. He was named to the All-Ivy League second team and CoSIDA Academic All-District team this year.
Durability and dependability led Balestrieri to a team-high in victories with a 5-4 record and 2.18 ERA across nine starts. His collegiate career culminated with a one-hit gem through a career-high 7 2/3 innings of work against Princeton in the season finale. He worked into the seventh inning in seven of his nine starts, yielding one or zero runs in six of them.
Balestrieri actually ranks sixth all-time in Cornell history with six career saves, having made 21 relief appearances over his first two years with the Big Red. Pepicelli then converted him to the rotation for the next two years, with Balestrieri wrapping up his career with a 7-9 record, 3.90 ERA and 109 strikeouts over 136 innings.
Lannoo was selected next, with the San Francisco Giants selecting him in 28th round with the 846th overall pick. An All-Ivy League first team selection this season after serving as the Big Red's closer, Lannoo's eight saves were tied for the Ivy League lead and ranked second all-time on the program's list for a single season. His 17 appearances led the team's pitching staff, sporting a 3.86 and 0-0 record.
Lannoo's journey to the MLB draft board is unique. He did not compete at the varsity level as a freshman, but was added to the Big Red roster as a walk-on for the 2015 campaign. He was solid in six relief appearances with a 2.61 ERA, but his season was cut short when he suffered an injury on a come-backer.
The 2016 season saw Lannoo moved to the rotation, where he made seven starts among his 10 appearances — including an outing at Penn that served as Cornell's first nine-inning complete game in 12 years. He was shifted to the back end of the bullpen for his senior season, where his fastball sat in the range of 92-94 mph by season's end. His eight saves were just one shy of a single-season program record set by Kellon Urbon '15 during the Big Red's Ivy League championship season in 2012.
Just four picks later, the Los Angeles Dodgers selected the rights to Lewis. The lone lefty in Cornell's rotation, Lewis posted a 3-2 record with a 5.32 ERA in eight starts this season, plus a relief outing in a midweek game. He averaged nearly a strikeout per inning with 45 Ks in 45 2/3 innings, and he had one of the Big Red's best starts in recent memory when he delivered a nine-inning, five-hit shutout of eventual division champion Penn on April 22. Lewis can now either choose to sign with the Dodgers or return to Cornell for his senior season in 2018.
The trio's respective selections lengthens the list of recent Cornell pitchers to be selected at the MLB's entry draft. Brian McAfee '15 was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 38th round in 2016, and he now pitching successfully at the Low-A level. Brent Jones was selected in the fourth round by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2014, and classmate Roberto Suppa '15 was taken by the San Diego Padres in 2011 before his four-year career at Cornell. That year's draft marked the last time Cornell had multiple picks in the draft, as Jadd Schmeltzer '11 was also selected.
