Another Tar Heel is headed to the professional ranks. After three standout seasons in Chapel Hill, Jason DeCaro was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the No. 80 overall pick in the 2026 MLB Draft Saturday.
DeCaro departs North Carolina following a junior season where he earned First-Team All-ACC honors and finished with a 11-3 record to go alongside a 2.87 ERA with 99 strikeouts in 97.1 innings pitched.
Across four NCAA Tournament starts, DeCaro logged 23.0 innings, striking out 25 batters while allowing 12 runs on 20 hits. Facing elimination in Game 2 of the Chapel Hill Super Regional against USC, the right-hander tossed a complete-game shutout to keep North Carolina’s season alive — the program’s first complete-game shutout in an elimination game since 2011 and its first complete-game shutout since 2018.
“Since the day he walked on campus, since the day he trusted us and gave up his high school senior year, he’s been nothing but phenomenal,” Scott Forbes said after the Game 3 shutout.
As a sophomore, DeCaro earned Second-Team All-ACC honors after posting a 9-3 record with a 3.78 ERA across 16 starts.
The North Port, N.Y. native enrolled early at North Carolina out of St. Anthony’s High School and made an immediate impact as a freshman. He earned Second-Team All-ACC honors after going 6-1 with a 3.91 ERA across 89.2 innings while leading the conference with 18 starts.