​Right-hander Jason DeCaro is headed to the Pittsburgh Pirates after being selected No. 80 overall in the 2026 MLB Draft on Saturday. DeCaro leaves North Carolina after three standout seasons, capped by a junior year in which he earned first-team All-ACC honors. He went 11-3 with a 2.87 ERA and 99 strikeouts across 97 1/3 innings.
In four NCAA Tournament starts this season, DeCaro pitched 23 innings, fanning 25 while allowing 12 runs on 20 hits. In a high-stakes moment during Game 2 of the Chapel Hill Super Regional against USC, he delivered a complete-game shutout to keep North Carolina’s season alive—marking the program’s first complete-game shutout in an elimination game since 2011 and its first complete-game shutout of any kind 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,” North Carolina head coach Scott Forbes said after that 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 from St. Anthony’s High School and made an immediate impact as a freshman, going 6-1 with a 3.91 ERA over 89 2/3 innings while leading the ACC with 18 starts.
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