Pirates Select UNC Catcher Jacob Stallings: Videos & Scouting Report

We really like what the Pittsburgh Pirates did with this pick. The Bucs selected solid North Carolina catcher Jacob Stallings.  The senior hit just a tad under .300, and had a nice triple slash in a tough conference– 294/.388/.445 in 238 at-bats. But Stallings is well known for his plus defense.

He was drafted late last year, but came back for his senior year with the Tar Heels and what a season it was for the team.

There is no question about Stallings’s plus defense; that alone could be his ticket to the show as a backup catcher. He has some raw power, but hasn’t been able to display it during when it matters the most.

He was never talked about as a top college catching prospect for some reason or another. He’s a talented prospect with a plus-plus arm.

We have to think the Bucs love his clean living attitude and are drooling about getting him signed and to work with the young arms in the Bucs system.
Check out this quote from NorthCarolina.scout.com:   How do you balance your time with Coach Jackson working on your batting and offense and with Coach Forbes on preparing the pitchers for the upcoming games?

“Something that helps that is that Coach Forbes will put a scouting report on my wrist card of every hitter in their starting lineup that day. That really limits the time that I have to spend with him in contrast with Coach Jackson. Me and Coach Forbes have been calling pitches together for four years now so we are pretty much always on the same page. He will give me the option of calling a pitch or another pitch. He has confidence in me and usually we are on the same page. Then with Coach Jackson we don’t get really in depth with our scouting reports of their pitchers as we like to stay with our approach and we don’t like to change our approach just because of what the other pitcher does…”

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Jacob Stallings talks about his love for Jesus

Interview after win over Texas in 2011.

A 2010 interview with Stallings.