Pirates Promoting Top Pitching Prospect to High-A
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PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates have one of the best future pitching talents and they are giving him a chance at the next level.
The Pirates are reportedly promoting top pitching prospect in right-hander Seth Hernandez to High-A Greensboro, according to Chase Ford of MiLB Central.
Hernandez has dominated at Single-A Bradenton this year, with a 3-0 record over six starts in 2026, a 0.96 ERA over 28.0 innings, 50 strikeouts to seven walks, a .135 batting average allowed (BAA), a 0.71 WHIP, plus a 16.07 K/9 and a 7.14 K/BB.
His performances saw Hernandez dominate and win Florida State League Pitcher of the Month honors in April. He also led the FSL in ERA, WHIP, BAA, strikeouts, K/9, K/BB and was second in innings pitched this season at the time of his promotion.
The Pirates took Hernandez sixth overall in the 2025 MLB Draft out of Corona High School in Corona, Calif., where he earned Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year honors in 2025.
Hernandez is the Pirates best pitching prospect, following the graduation of Bubba Chandler, and Baseball America ranks him as the 10th best prospect in baseball and MLB Pipeline has him 21st.
Why the Pirates Are Promoting Seth Hernandez Now
There's no doubt that Hernandez was simply too good for Single-A and was putting up ridiculous numbers against the hitting at that level.
Hernandez is still young, just 19 years old, and the Pirates were clearly practicing caution with him, particularly with his innings workload.
Pirates pitchers like veteran Mitch Keller and Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes will throw more than 180 innings over 30+ starts, so Hernandez has some time before doing that.
He threw less than a combined 110 innings over his junior and senior seasons at Corona High School and must get adjusted to pitching far more innings than he's ever done before.
Hernandez has increased his innings in each outing from three innings in his first start, four innings in his second start, five innings each in his third, fourth and fifth starts and then six innings in his sixth start.
The future Pirates ace also kept up the quality of his pitches the deeper he went into outings, maintaining his impressive fastball velocity and the break/movement he has on his offspeed pitches.
Hernandez will face a much better level of hitting in High-A in a hitter's ballpark in First National Bank Field, but he should still pitch well, as he's demonstrated talent far beyond his age.
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Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.