Former Pirates prospect supported by Mountaineers

Astros catcher J.R. House was once prized in Pittsburgh.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- At this time a year ago, J.R. House was a pitcher, not a catcher. Hits were to be avoided, not something he needed to keep his job.
One of the most accomplished quarterbacks in U.S. high school football history wasn't worried about putting down the correct sign for Andy Pettitte or Roger Clemens as an Astros catcher, but instead was calling signals for nationally ranked West Virginia as a backup QB.
That's why a number of his former Mountaineers teammates were expected to be in the stands for the Astros-Pirates game Saturday night, to watch the catcher-turned-QB-turned-catcher again perform in the majors.
"Your main goal as an athlete is to get to the biggest arena you possibly can, which is the big leagues in baseball," said House, a former Pirates prospect.
The 26-year-old House was called up by Houston a week ago.
In the hunt
The Astros, who remain well below .500, may not make it back to the World Series. But how many athletes can say they've played for the Sugar Bowl champions and the defending National League champions in the same year?
"I just always loved to play, whether it was basketball when I was little or baseball or football," House said. "I loved to compete and play sports, that's what I've always loved to do."
His first love was football, and he was good enough that he once held the national record for career passing yards with 14,710. And good enough to throw a remarkable 10 touchdown passes in his final game for Nitro (W.Va.) High, which also happened to be a state championship game.
But, with a quick bat and a major league quality stroke, his most promising sport was baseball. So when the Pirates drafted him in the fifth round in 1999 and offered more money than such a pick usually gets, he gave up football.
Early success
The decision looked like a good one when he hit .348 to win the South Atlantic League batting title for Class A Hickory in 2000.
He made it to the majors briefly with the Pirates in 2003 and 2004, but injuries repeatedly held him back.
He needed abdominal surgery, elbow surgery, shoulder surgery and missed time with mononucleosis. Finally, the Pirates gave up on him in March 2005 after the shoulder injury and released him.
"It was a bad situation where I was getting hurt a lot, and they made a decision that I probably wouldn't come back from an injury," House said. "That's just the way it goes."
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