UNC Baseball: Former Tar Heel Catcher Signs One-Year Deal with NL West team
Former UNC Baseball catcher Jacob Stallings has signed a one-year deal to be a backup catcher in the NL West for the Colorado Rockies.
By Jordan Falls
Eight-year MLB Veteran and former UNC Baseball catcher Jacob Stallings has found a new home for the 2024 Major League Baseball Season. Following spending the previous two seasons in Miami with the Marlins, Stallings will stay in the National League, but head west.
Welcome to the Rockies, Dakota and Jacob! pic.twitter.com/mi7ZmSTlN5
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) January 5, 2024
The Colorado Rockies announced that they had signed Stallings and right-handed pitcher Dakota Hudson to one-year contracts for the 2024 season. Stallings is an MLB veteran, and this will be his third team in his career. After being drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the seventh round of the 2012 MLB Draft, he made his major league debut for the Pirates in 2016 and spent six seasons in Pittsburgh.
Stallings is a 2021 Gold Glove winner when he had a .995 fielding percentage and didn't allow a single pass ball in 112 games. Following that season, the Pirates traded Stallings to Miami where he split time behind the plate for the Marlins, however following a difficult season and posting just a 0.191 batting average, he was released.
It appears the Rockies plan for Stallings to be in a backup catcher role for the 2024 season as they have Elias Diaz still on the roster, who was a 2023 all-star. The former Tar Heel will look to prove key contributions in relief duties behind the plate and get his groove back at the plate following the struggles in 2023.
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