Pirates Sign Seventh Round Pick Jake Stallings

The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed seventh round catcher out of The University of North Carolina Jake Stallings.   He will report to State College to catch for the Spikes whose season begins Monday.

He hit .297 (62-for-209) with 21 doubles, four home runs, 36 RBI and 41 runs scored in 55 games as a senior this year at the UNC.

He earned All-ACC second-team honors this season and was the the first UNC catcher to earn an All-ACC mention since Tim Federowicz was named to the second team in 2008.

His father, Kevin, is the head men’s basketball coach at Vanderbilt University.  Stallings can play solid defense and threw out 32 would-be base stealers as a junior, which ranked third in the country among NCAA backstops.

Last year Stallings was selected by Cincinnati in the 42nd round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft.