May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Princeton University’s David Hale has more than an Ivy League business education as he sets out for the working world. He’s got stuff.

His fastball has enough speed and movement -- “stuff” in baseball lingo -- to draw 20 radar-gun toting Major League Baseball scouts to watch him pitch against Cornell University in advance of the June 9-10 draft. He’s among the top 75 prospects and No. 1 from the Ivy League, according to Baseball America magazine.

“He could be a second-rounder or more likely a third- rounder,” said Aaron Fitt, the magazine’s college baseball writer. “There’s 50 rounds in the draft, so for a guy to go in the top three is a pretty big deal.”

Hale, a 21-year-old junior from Marietta, Georgia, majoring in operations research and financial engineering, said he’s already decided that he’d rather play minor-league baseball than return to Princeton and a possible career on Wall Street.

“I don’t know if I’m in for those hours, so we’ll see where baseball takes me,” the 6-foot-2, 195-pound right-hander said in an interview at Princeton’s Clarke Field. “It’s probably a better option right now with the whole economy, and it’s my dream, so I obviously want to do this.”

Signing Bonus

As a baseball player drafted in the late second or third round, his skills would earn him a one-time signing bonus of $400,000-$600,000, said Baseball America Co-Editor in Chief John Manuel. The major-league minimum salary in 2008 was $390,000.

Entry-level Wall Street jobs for Ivy Leaguers are paying in the $100,000 to $200,000 range, according to eFinancialCareers.com. Postings by employers on the Web site were down 47 percent in April compared with the same month last year.

Finding a job might be a problem, said John Challenger, chief executive officer of Chicago-based placement company Challenger, Gray and Christmas.

“It’s harder to get onto Wall Street than it is into the major leagues right now,” Challenger said, laughing. “The offers on Wall Street this year are sparse in comparison to recent years. It’s not bad to have another area of expertise.”

According to scouts, Hale has one. He pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings against Cornell on April 24 and struck out a career-high 10 batters. His fastball reached 96 miles an hour (154 kilometers an hour), which would make him among the hardest-throwing major-leaguers.

“Obviously, he showed a lot of arm strength,” said Roy Clark, the scouting director for the Atlanta Braves who came to Princeton himself for the game. “He can’t pitch much better than he threw today.”

Economists, Not Pitchers

The Ivy League, known more for producing talent like Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman (Yale ‘74) than pitchers, does have some baseball credentials. Lou Gehrig and Eddie Collins, both Hall of Famers, went to Columbia University. Princeton has produced four big leaguers in the past two seasons, as many as the other seven Ivy League schools combined.

Two former Princeton pitchers are in major-league starting rotations: Chris Young of the San Diego Padres and Ross Ohlendorf of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Will Venable, a former Princeton outfielder, played part of last season for the Padres and is now with the Triple-A Portland Beavers. Princeton’s Tim Lahey began the 2008 season in the Philadelphia Phillies’ bullpen and was released a week later without throwing a pitch. He is now with the Minnesota Twins’ Triple-A team in Rochester, New York.

The other Ivy Leaguers currently in the majors are Cleveland Indians utility player Mark DeRosa (Pennsylvania), Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Brad Ausmus (Dartmouth), Twins reliever Craig Breslow (Yale) and Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Fernando Perez (Columbia). Unlike other college conferences, the league doesn’t allow athletic scholarships.

Former Yankee

The Princeton big-leaguers all were recruited by manager Scott Bradley, who played for the New York Yankees and three other teams in nine major-league seasons. He’s been with the school for 12 seasons and compiled a 263-258-1 mark, with five Ivy League championships.

He said his success is in finding athletes who haven’t yet reached their full potential.

“It’s having good kids and trying to find kids that have a high ceiling but aren’t a finished product yet,” said Bradley, 49.

Pursuing Dream

Young, a third-round 2000 draft pick of the Pirates and a 2007 All-Star for San Diego, joined Princeton after being allowed to play both baseball and basketball, and became a two- sport Rookie of the Year at the school. Venable was all- conference in basketball and baseball. Ohlendorf was known more for basketball in high school, and Hale, a former infielder, didn’t become a pitcher until after committing to Princeton.

“Some of it is luck,” Bradley said. “You don’t look at David Hale and say, ‘Hey, you have a chance to be a high draft pick,’ when he walked in as a freshman. It just kind of evolved.”

The evolution means Hale likely can pursue his dream of someday playing in the major leagues, perhaps for his hometown Braves.

“We haven’t signed many Ivy League guys in the past,” Atlanta’s Clark said. “Maybe this year will be our year.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Mason Levinson in New York at mlevinson@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 6, 2009 00:00 EDT