He’s only six starts into his professional career, but Seth Hernandez continues to look like one of the game's next great young strikeout artists.
The Pirates' No. 2 prospect put forth yet another dominant display Friday night, punching out nine batters for a third consecutive outing for Single-A Bradenton, helping to lead the way in the Marauders' 6-2 victory over Dunedin at TD Ballpark.
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The 19-year-old allowed no runs and just three hits -- just one of which registered an exit velocity greater than 95 mph. He walked one and threw 56 of his 81 pitches (69.1 percent) for strikes. The 2025 first-round pick didn’t even reach a three-ball count until issuing a walk to Juan Sanchez (TOR No. 7) to start the bottom of the fourth.
As they often have this season, the strikeouts came early and often for the Pomona, Calif., native, as he punched out six of the first 12 batters he faced. Entering his Friday night start, MLB’s No. 21 prospect claimed ownership of a 50 percent K rate in his first 22 innings pitched, the best mark among all MiLB pitchers (min. 20 frames).
Despite striking out nine, that number actually took a slight dip on the year, falling to 48.1 percent.
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Across the board, Hernandez’s arsenal dazzled, generating a career-high 24 whiffs. That one-ups his outing from a week ago when he generated 19. His 70-grade fastball again looked sharp, topping out at 98.6 mph.
However, it was his 60-grade changeup that was responsible for a bulk of the swing-and-miss, generating seven whiffs on 11 swings. Coming into the outing, the offering had logged a 73.3 percent whiff rate this season. Tarik Skubal, who owns the highest whiff rate on his changeup in the Majors this season, would still be comfortably in second to Hernandez at 49.5 percent.
With his outing against Dunedin, MLB's No. 3 right-handed pitching prospect lowered his ERA to a minuscule 0.96. Opposing batters are now just 13-for-96 (.135) with a .452 OPS against Hernandez.
It’s fair to wonder when -- or how soon -- a promotion might be due for Hernandez. Given his utter dominance of the level, his stuff may soon prove in need of a bigger challenge.