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Clemson baseball’s Will Taylor picked by Pittsburgh Pirates in Round 5 of 2024 MLB Draft

Published

2 years ago

July 15, 2024

Clemson baseball’s Will Taylor picked by Pittsburgh Pirates in Round 5 of 2024 MLB Draft

CLEMSON — Outfielder Will Taylor from Clemson baseball was selected 145th overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the fifth round of the 2024 MLB draft on Monday.

Taylor gave up football to play baseball full-time at Clemson. The 145th pick has a slot value of $471,400.

Here’s what Taylor brings to Pittsburgh, based on our own observations from his tenure at Clemson:

What Will Taylor brings to Pittsburgh Pirates in 2024 MLB Draft

The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Taylor could have been taken in the MLB draft out of Dutch Fork High School in Irmo, South Carolina, in 2021 but chose to be a two-sport athlete at Clemson. Taylor is a tough, strong athlete, who had his best season in 2023. He hit .362 with 23 extra-base hits (including five home runs), 46 RBIs and 11 stolen bases, winning the team’s most improved player award.

Taylor also has strong discipline at the plate, recording 48 walks in 2023 to lead Clemson and 33 the following year. However, he has injury concerns. He tore a ligament in his right knee as a freshman while playing football that led to two surgeries.

MORE: Where Clemson baseball finished in the USA TODAY Top 25 after NCAA super regional run

The South Carolina native broke his left wrist this April too, which limited him to a .230 batting average over 32 games in 2024. MLB.com says he still carries power as a right-handed hitter, but his burst and explosiveness on the base paths and outfield has reduced. Yet, he improved his speed stock at the MLB combine when he ran 3.609 in the 30-yard dash to record the fifth fastest time at the event.

Will Taylor’s stats at Clemson baseball

Over 368 at-bats in 107 games, Taylor recorded:

.313 batting average
13 home runs
69 RBIs
18 stole bases

Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00

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Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Carolina Hurricanes 3/10/2026

Published

8 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Carolina Hurricanes 3/10/2026

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (31-17-14, 76 points, 3rd place Metropolitan Division) @ Carolina Hurricanes (35-22-5, 75 points, 5th place Atlantic Division)

How to Watch: Local broadcasts on FanDuel Sports Network South and SportsNet Pittsburgh, streaming on ESPN+

Pens’ Path Ahead: The Penguins are heading out West later this week to play some late-night games against the Vegas Golden Knights (Thursday, 10 p.m. ET), Utah Mammoth (Saturday, 9 p.m. ET) and Colorado Avalanche (Monday, 9:30 p.m. ET). Then it’s back for a rematch with the Hurricanes in North Carolina next Wednesday.

Opponent Track: The Hurricanes are still on top of the Metro, and they’ve won seven of their last nine, but they’re coming off a loss in Calgary that featured a wild five-goal third period last Saturday.

Season Series: The Penguins won this last matchup 5-1 on Dec. 30. Next up is that road game next Wednesday, followed four days later by a 3 p.m. ET Sunday matinee in Pittsburgh.

Hidden Stat: The Penguins haven’t won in Carolina since March 2019. The visitors are 0-4-4 in eight matchups over that span.

Getting to know the Hurricanes

Andrei Svechnikov – Sebastian Aho – Seth Jarvis

Taylor Hall – Logan Stankoven – Jackson Blake

Nikolaj Ehlers – Jordan Staal – Jordan Martinook

William Carrier – Mark Jankowski – Eric Robinson

Jaccob Slavin – Jalen Chatfield

K’Andre Miller – Sean Walker

Mike Reilly – Alexander Nikishin

Goalies: Brandon Bussi, Frederik Andersen

Potential scratches: Shayne Gostisbehere (day to day)

Injured Reserve: Charles-Alexis Legault, Pyotr Kochetkov, Nicolas Deslauriers

Gostisbehere missed the Hurricanes’ Saturday loss to the Flames with a lower-body injury. Mike Reilly will likely slide out of this lineup if he is able to go.

Nicolas Deslauriers has yet to make his Hurricanes debut since his trade from the Philadelphia Flyers. If the Canes decide to slot him into the lineup Monday night, he would slot into their fourth line.
The Hurricanes have historically been a tough matchup for the Pens, but the Penguins could take some lessons from the Flames. Calgary got beaten on face-offs (52.5 percent to 47.5 percent) and 5-on-5 scoring chances (24 to 21) while holding strong on hits (26-20) and getting some nice saves from Dustin Wolf to claim a 5-4 win over the Canes on Saturday.

Egor Chinakhov – Rickard Rakell – Bryan Rust

Anthony Mantha – Tommy Novak – Ville Koivunen

Elmer Soderblom – Ben Kindel – Avery Hayes

Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Sam Girard / Ilya Solovyov

Goalies: Arturs Silovs, Stuart Skinner

Potential Scratches: Evgeni Malkin (suspended), Ryan Graves, Connor Clifton, Kevin Hayes, Justin Brazeau (day to day)

IR: Sidney Crosby, Filip Hallander

Jack St. Ivany is off IR. He’s headed to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on a conditioning loan, per Seth Rorabaugh.
Justin Breazeau’s status is uncertain after he was sidelined against the Bruins on Sunday with a day-to-day upper-body injury.
Today should also lead to more information on whether Sidney Crosby is joining the team for the upcoming five-game road trip. Dane Muse said Sunday that decision would be made after the matchup against the Boston Bruins.
Evgeni Malkin is set to miss the third game of his five-game suspension tonight. He won’t be eligible to return until the Penguins rematch against the Hurricanes next week.
It’s a milestone game for Kyle Dubas, who has served as general manager for 600 career games, per Pens PR. A win tonight would tie him with Steve Yzerman for the 14th-most wins through that milestone with 326 victories.

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Steelers sign breakout star running back

Published

20 hours ago

March 9, 2026

Press Room

Steelers sign breakout star running back

The Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t done making moves on the first day of legal tampering. Per Jordan Schultz, the Steelers are signing former Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle. The South Carolina product rushed for over 1,000 yards in each of the last two seasons, averaging just under five yards per rush in each season.

This comes after the Steelers were very active on unofficial beginning of the new league year. They traded for Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr and also signed cornerback Jamel Dean. Internally, they re-signed cornerback Asante Samuel Jr and linebacker Cole Holcomb.

Dowdle now joins Jaylen Warren in the backfield, replacing Kenneth Gainwell, who left for Tampa Bay. On paper, this is one of the better one-two punches at running back in the NFL.

Let us know what you think in the comments. Be sure to bookmark Behind the Steel Curtain for all the latest news, breakdowns, and more!

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Stanford meets Pittsburgh in ACC Tournament

Published

1 day ago

March 9, 2026

Press Room

Stanford meets Pittsburgh in ACC Tournament

Pittsburgh Panthers (12-19, 5-13 ACC) vs. Stanford Cardinal (20-11, 9-9 ACC)

Charlotte, North Carolina; Tuesday, 2 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Stanford faces Pittsburgh in the ACC Tournament.

The Cardinal have gone 9-9 against ACC teams, with an 11-2 record in non-conference play. Stanford has a 3-2 record in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Panthers’ record in ACC games is 5-13. Pittsburgh has a 2-2 record in games decided by 3 points or fewer.

Stanford is shooting 43.7% from the field this season, 2.0 percentage points lower than the 45.7% Pittsburgh allows to opponents. Pittsburgh’s 43.6% shooting percentage from the field this season is 2.0 percentage points lower than Stanford has given up to its opponents (45.6%).

The teams square off for the second time this season. Stanford won the last meeting 75-67 on Feb. 26. Ebuka Okorie scored 34 to help lead Stanford to the win, and Cameron Corhen scored 22 points for Pittsburgh.

TOP PERFORMERS: Okorie is scoring 23.1 points per game with 3.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists for the Cardinal. Benny Gealer is averaging 13.1 points and 1.7 steals over the past 10 games.

Corhen is scoring 13.1 points per game with 6.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists for the Panthers. Barry Dunning Jr. is averaging 13.1 points and 6.9 rebounds over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinal: 6-4, averaging 77.9 points, 29.6 rebounds, 11.5 assists, 8.2 steals and 4.4 blocks per game while shooting 46.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 73.4 points per game.

Panthers: 3-7, averaging 64.2 points, 29.4 rebounds, 13.6 assists, 6.6 steals and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 42.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.8 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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