Placer alum Peyton Stumbo drafted by Pittsburgh Pirates in 20th round

There were a handful of teams talking to Placer High School alum and Nevada right-handed pitcher Peyton Stumbo leading up to the MLB Draft, but no team was more consistent than the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yet with every pick that passed, Stumbo's name wasn't called. "My agent kept telling me it might be this round or next round, so the whole entire time I was watching and was ready to get picked on day two, but it didn't happen," said Stumbo, who was watching the draft with family at his parents' house in Auburn. "My parents were pacing back and forth." While Stumbo wasn't nervous about not being selected in the first two days of the draft, his nerves hit him Tuesday. "That third day was where it was kind of getting a little nerve-racking," Stumbo said. "We're watching the 15th round go by, the 17th round go by. The 19th round was where I started to wonder what if I don't get picked?" Finally, with their final selection of the day and the 587th overall pick, Stumbo got the phone call he had been waiting for – kind of. "I guess our TV was behind, so my phone started blowing up and then I get the call," Stumbo said. "It was kind of like a weird moment because I'm on the phone with the Pirates but my name hasn't been called yet on our TV. My phone was just blowing up in my ear with calls and texts while I was talking to the Pirates." After hanging up, a relieved Stumbo celebrated with his family. "It was a good feeling for it to finally happen," Stumbo said. "I trusted the scouts I had talked to and I knew they wanted me. The money was there the entire time; they just had guys they wanted to draft first. It really hasn't set in yet. I bet by the time I'm on my way to Pittsburgh, it'll start to feel like this is actually going to happen." Stumbo appeared in 15 games and made 10 starts for Nevada in this season and struck out 53 in 59 innings. His first of two wins on the year came March 8 when he allowed two runs and three hits in six innings against USC. One week later, he set a career high with eight strikeouts in six innings against Oregon State. Stumbo spent time with the Lincoln Potters this summer and emerged as the team's ace for the first month of the season, earning CCL Pitcher of the Week in his final week with the team. "We were kind of expecting a big summer out of him coming into the season, especially because he pitched in the CCL last summer for the Saints," Potters pitching coach Brock Ragatz said of Stumbo. "He's a veteran guy on the mound and in the dugout, and he shows it." Stumbo will fly to Pittsburgh for a physical and intends to sign his contract while there. From there, he will join the rest of the Pirates' draft picks at the Florida Complex League in Bradenton. "I'll start playing ball right away. I'll be playing in a couple of the games from the very end of that summer season, which is around September, and then they're going to ship me off another month until October to where I will work with a personal coach for about a month," Stumbo said. "I will use the time from October to March just getting ready for spring training." Stumbo said through the craziness of the draft and the 24 hours after it, he barely had time to let it sink in that he was going to be a professional baseball player. Said Stumbo, "Everything's been moving pretty fast, but Tuesday night, I kind of sat down and had a moment to myself where I realized, 'I got drafted today, I'm not going back to college, and I'm taking my baseball career to the next level.' "