As a junior, however, he hit 11 home runs, the Tigers' second-best single-season total, and was named to the all-regional team in that year's NCAA Division I Baseball Championship.
[3] In his final season, he was named to the all-Ivy League second team, batting in 31 runs that year and "[solidifying] his status as one of the greatest catchers in recent Princeton history".
[4] After graduating with a degree in politics,[2] Lahey was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 20th round of the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft, the 601st overall pick.
He spent the entire 2005 season in Elizabethton refining his pitching skills, leading the team in saves (15) and games played (26) and allowing no home runs.
[13] After the 2007 season, Lahey was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays with the first overall pick in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft on December 6; thereafter, he was immediately traded to the Chicago Cubs for cash considerations.
He appeared in two games for the Miracle, pitching three scoreless innings,[18] but was quickly called up to Rochester, where he faced the farm team of the club he had just left.
[19] For the 2008 season, Lahey won five games and lost five, striking out 53 and serving as the setup man to Bobby Korecky, earning eight saves.
[21] The following season, Lahey improved his win–loss record to 5–3, lowered his ERA to 5.08, pitched the second-most innings of his career (79+2⁄3), and struck out 13 more batters than the previous year in only four more contests,[1][22] but was released by the Twins at the end of 2010.