Seth Hernandez’s climb through the Pirates’ system has moved fast enough to make the calendar feel a little crowded.
The 20-year-old right-hander, Pittsburgh’s No. 1 prospect and MLB’s No. 6 overall prospect, is only in his fourth month as a professional, yet he’s already lining up for the All-Star Futures Game on Sunday in Philadelphia. Before that showcase, he handled one more tuneup the right way.
Hernandez bounced back from his roughest outing of the season by striking out four over three innings Wednesday night as High-A Greensboro cruised past visiting Greenville, 16-3, at First National Bank Field. The start was planned to keep him on schedule for the Futures Game, and he made the most of the work.
That was important after his previous turn, when he gave up a career-high five runs and eight hits in 3 2/3 innings. That outing pushed his Grasshoppers ERA from 2.88 to 3.79 and accounted for 20 percent of the earned runs he has allowed all year.
Against the Drive, though, Hernandez settled in after a rocky beginning. He gave up a homer on his second pitch of the game, then found his rhythm and struck out three of his four batters across a stretch that bridged the end of the first inning and the second.
The 6-foot-4, 190-pound right-hander finished with two hits, one walk and 10 whiffs on 18 swings over 44 pitches. He also climbed back to the top of the Minor League strikeout leaderboard with 111 punchouts, and he’ll take a 2.61 ERA across 16 starts at two levels into the Futures Game.
Since Opening Day, Hernandez has looked every bit the pitcher people have been talking about. He’s not getting caught up in the noise, but he’s clearly thinking big.
“A goal that I always think about is making the big leagues while I'm still 20 years old,” Hernandez recently told MLB.com. “So if I could make it before June 28 of next year, that would be pretty awesome.”
Hernandez didn’t last the five innings needed to qualify for the win, but his departure didn’t slow Greensboro. Edward Florentino, Pittsburgh’s No. 2 prospect and MLB’s No. 30 overall prospect, delivered one of the biggest swings of the night with a 110 mph three-run homer in the sixth. It was his 11th High-A homer and 14th of the season overall, and he has now gone deep four times in his past five games.
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For a club trying to balance immediate upside with long-term development, the fifth pick could come down to what kind of player the front office wants to bet on. Flora fits the profile of a polished college pitcher, while Booth offers the sort of younger, higher-risk ceiling that can appeal in the top half of the first round. The Pirates still have time before July 11-12, but the range of names already in play suggests this pick may not be as straightforward as it first looked. [Read more 🡒]