June 11, 2009
LOS ANGELES - Two Penn State student-athletes were selected on the third day of the 2009 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft Thursday.
Penn State senior first baseman Cory Wine was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday in the 38th round with the 1,157th pick of the 2009 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. Anthony Scirrotto, safety with the Nittany Lion football team, became the third Penn State student-athlete chosen in the draft when the Kansas City Royals chose him as a shortstop in the 50th round with the 1,502nd pick.
Wine and Scirrotto join senior pitcher Scott Kelley, who was drafted by the Royals in the 23rd round on Wednesday. Eleven members of the Penn State baseball team have been selected in the five years Robbie Wine has been head coach.
Cory Wine has potential to become a third-generation MLB player with the Phillies. The son of Penn State baseball head coach and former Houston Astros catcher Robbie Wine, the 6-foot-5 first baseman is the grandson of former Phillies standout and Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Wine.
In his four years at Penn State, Wine etched his name into several categories in the school record book. The four-year starter holds a career putouts record of 1,913 - 720 more putouts than any other fielder in the 133-year history of the Nittany Lion baseball program. He also owns the most at-bats (800) and sacrifice flies (13), and is among the career leaders in hits (206), doubles (44) and triples (9).
This year, he posted a career-best .307 batting average with five home runs and 41 RBIs. Through the first 15 games of the season, he owned a .477 batting average with six multi-RBI games. Wine proved to be a driving force at the three spot in the Nittany Lions lineup, where he powered over opposing pitchers for a .852 OPS rating from the left side of the plate. In his senior season, Wine had a team-best 21 hits for a .404 batting average against left-handed pitching.
Scirrotto last played baseball in 2005 when he was a shortstop and pitcher at West Deptford High School in West Deptford, N.J. The two-time baseball team captain earned all-state, All-South Jersey and all-conference honors.
Co-captain Scirrotto effectively quarterbacked the Nittany Lions' secondary throughout his senior season. A starter at safety in 38 of the 39 games over the past three seasons, the hard-hitting Scirrotto helped Penn State permit just 10 touchdown passes all season, second-fewest in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions finished third in the Big Ten and 19th in the nation in pass efficiency defense. Scirrotto was named first team All-Big Ten for the second time in 2008. He made 61 tackles (36 solo), fourth highest on the squad. He also tied for second on the team with two interceptions and five pass break-ups and had one fumble recovery. In his final home game, Scirrotto grabbed his 12th career interception, moving him in a tie for fifth place on Penn State's career list.
Scirrotto became the first football player to be selected in the MLB Draft since the then-California Angels took O.J. McDuffie in the 41st round in 1991 but abstained to remain in school and eventually play wide receiver for the National Football League's Miami Dolphins. Earlier this spring, Scirrotto signed with the NFL's Carolina Panthers.