Pittsburgh Pirates

Pirates sign 2021 first-round selection Henry Davis

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates signed catcher Henry Davis on Sunday, the No. 1 overall selection in the 2021 First-Year Player Draft.

Davis, 21, will begin his pro career in the Florida Complex League.

He earned first-team All-American honors from both Baseball America and the American Baseball Coaches Association this past season. As a sophomore for the University of Louisville, Davis hit .370 (68-for-184) with nine doubles and a career-high 15 home runs and 48 RBI in 50 games.

Davis was a finalist for the prestigious Buster Posey Award as college baseball’s top catcher in NCAA Division I this past season. He threw out 13 of the 28 runners (46%) attempting to steal against him in 2021 and 40% (25-for-63) during his three-year career with Louisville. He was also graded with a 70 arm by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline entering this year’s draft.

Baseball America also labeled him as having the fourth-best “Strike-Zone Judgment” and as the fifth-best “Hitter” among college players in the draft.

Davis was also tabbed a semifinalist for the 2021 Golden Spikes Award, which is given to the nation’s best amateur player, and as a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, which is awarded to college baseball’s player-of-the-year. He finished the 2021 campaign ranked first in the ACC with a .482 on-base percentage while also ranking among the top 10 conference leaders in batting average (.370), hits (68), home runs (15), RBI (48), total bases (122) and slugging percentage (.663).

During Louisville’s abbreviated 2020 season, he hit .372 (16-for-43) with five doubles, three homers and 13 RBI in 14 games. He also hit .280 (37-for-132) with five doubles, three home runs and 23 RBI in 45 games during his first collegiate season in 2019 with Louisville.

Prior to attending Louisville, Davis was a four-year letterman at Fox Lane High School in Bedford, NY, where he was named the 2018 Perfect Game New York Player-of-the-Year as well as the state’s top rated catcher by Perfect Game.