Pirates sign four more 2026 Draft picks

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates announced Thursday the signing of four players from the 2026 First-Year Player Draft.

The newly signed players include second-round pick and shortstop Aiden Ruiz, third-round pick and right-handed pitcher DeCaro, fourth-round pick and outfielder Andruw Giles and 11th-round pick and left-handed pitcher Spencer Evans.

All four players will begin their professional careers assigned to the Florida Complex League. With these signings, the Pirates have now secured 15 of their 21 total selections from the 2026 draft class.

Ruiz was highly rated by Baseball America as the No. 31 prospect and by MLB Pipeline as the No. 32 prospect in the draft. Baseball America also tabbed him as the No. 10 high school player in the draft. Perfect Game recognized Ruiz as the top prospect in New York and the No. 9 prospect in the country.

During his senior year at the Stony Brook School in New York in 2026, Ruiz had a .403 batting average, a .547 on-base percentage and a .625 slugging percentage. He recorded six doubles, two triples, two home runs, 17 RBI, 21 walks and 23 stolen bases in 23 attempts, striking out only eight times in 95 plate appearances.

Ruiz was named All-World Shortstop after hitting .379 with a tournament-best 11 hits during the 2025 World Baseball Softball Confederation U-18 World Cup, which the United States won. He also helped lead the Bears to the 2024 New York State Association of Independent Schools state title. Ruiz was part of the team that went 2-2 at USA Baseball’s National High School Invitational in 2025.

His father, Sammy Ruiz, was drafted by Chicago (AL) out of Central State University in Ohio in 1985 and played parts of two minor league seasons. Ruiz had previously committed to play collegiately at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. He is 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds.

DeCaro, a right-handed pitcher, was a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist as a junior at the University of North Carolina in 2026. He is the fifth different pitcher and 11th player overall in program history to receive the honor.

During his junior season, DeCaro posted an 11-three record with three shutouts, a 2.87 earned run average across 97.1 innings pitched and 99 strikeouts in 19 starts. He helped guide the program to its 13th College World Series appearance, which was its second during his time at the school, alongside 2024.

DeCaro earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference first-team and D1Baseball All-American second-team honors during his third season with the Tar Heels, pitching a shutout against the University of Southern California in the Chapel Hill Super Regional on June 6. He was also named to the All-ACC second team as a freshman in 2024 and as a sophomore in 2025. DeCaro was named to the All-ACC Freshman Team in his first season at UNC and was tabbed by both D1Baseball and Perfect Game as a first-team freshman All-American. He is 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs 225 pounds.

Giles was recognized by Perfect Game as the No. 1 outfielder and the No. 4 player overall in Nevada during his senior year in 2026 at the Basic Academy of International Studies. The outlet also rated him as the No. 32 outfielder in the country.

In his final year with the Wolves, Giles slashed .494/.606/.935 and went 38-for-77 with 11 doubles, four triples, five home runs and 23 runs batted in. He was named the Prep Baseball Nevada Co-Player of the Year, sharing the honor with Keenan Dolan. Giles had previously committed to play collegiately at the University of Oregon. He is 6 feet tall and weighs 195 pounds.

Evans was ranked by Perfect Game as the No. 17 player in Florida among this year’s draft class and No. 13 among left-handed pitchers. Baseball America rated him as the No. 144 prospect in this year’s draft and the No. 19 high school prospect in Florida. He is 6 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 190 pounds. He attended TNXL Academy in Florida.

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