Pirates Q&A: Jacob Stallings

Your father, Kevin Stallings, is a pretty successful college basketball coach at Pittsburgh, and you’re 6 feet, 5 inches. How did you wind up playing baseball?

“All through middle school and into high school, basketball was my favorite sport and kind of was my best sport, and in middle school I just started catching and I kind of got really good at catching. I was really slow and couldn’t really jump very high, so baseball seemed to be the better fit in basketball.”

Your dad left Vanderbilt for Pitt during spring training last year. What’s it like to have him now in Pittsburgh with you?

“It was kind of crazy. He went to Vanderbilt when I was in fourth grade, so Vanderbilt was kind of all that I knew and the only team I really had ever remembered cheering for. So it was weird. It was an adjustment, for sure, cheering for Pitt now. I still cheer for those guys at Vanderbilt. It was weird and a funny coincidence, but it was cool because when I was up there this summer we got to hang out a lot, so it was fun.”

Do you have any favorite memories from growing up and watching your dad’s Vandy teams?

“Two that come to mind is when they played Florida at home. That was when like Joakim Noah and Al Horford and all those guys were there. They were ranked No. 1 and had won the national championship the year before, and Vanderbilt beat them that day, so that was really cool. And then the other was probably his first Sweet 16. They had a great comeback and it was just a really awesome game against N.C. State.”