No. 4 prospect Barco escapes jam, earns win vs. Reds in MLB debut

CINCINNATI -- Hunter Barco was recovering from Tommy John surgery when the Pirates selected him in the second round of the 2022 MLB Draft. In ‘24, the southpaw had a “stress response” that likely would have been a fracture had it not been addressed.

There’s a difference between missing time with an injury and losing a year, though. The Tommy John surgery afforded Barco an opportunity to learn about his motion and how he throws. The stress response helped him learn how to better land off the pitching rubber. It may have had to be done the hard way, but the 24-year-old lefty grew through the process.

“I hope I'm done with injuries, but it's a hard game so we'll see,” said Barco. “Yeah, it's been a lot of ups and downs with health. I've been able to stay healthy for this season and really just learned how my body works and what I can do to get the most of it.”

Those injuries contributed to Barco having a shorter resume than many starting pitchers ahead of their Major League debut. He’s appeared in only 54 affiliated games in the Minors, 27 coming this year in a career-high 99 1/3 innings pitched. But in that abbreviated time on the field, Barco rose to being the No. 4 prospect in the Pirates’ system and the No. 82 prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline.

On Tuesday, Barco officially rose to the top, tossing a scoreless inning and earning the win in the Pirates’ 4-2 victory over the Reds at Great American Ball Park.

“Jogged out to the mound, first pitch I didn't really know where it was going to go,” Barco said. “I kind of blacked out, but just threw it. After that, it was like, 'Alright, it's go time.' Just playing baseball.”

Barco worked around a pair of singles in his scoreless sixth before getting out of the jam on a Matt McLain groundout. Pirates starter Johan Oviedo was pulled after 4 2/3 innings, opening up Barco to be the first Pirates lefty reliever to win their debut since Frank Carpin on May 25, 1965.

Consider it a cherry on top of a very strong season. Barco had arguably the best start of any Pirates pitcher in April, not allowing a run in six starts with Double-A Altoona. That prompted a promotion to Triple-A Indianapolis, and while he did have to battle through a slump and some control issues, he more than held his own at the higher level, finishing the Minor League season with a 2.81 ERA and 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings between the two levels.

When he’s on, Barco offers a mid-90s fastball, a splitter that kills spin, a slider and a project cutter that he’s cycled through three or four grips in search of the perfect pitch. But when he’s in compete mode, one pitch stands out in particular.

"I faced him in Double-A and it's the heater,” Bucs’ No. 8 prospect Rafael Flores said. “I mean, the heater, he can blow it by anybody. He's just got to know that. It's all confidence. If he's up there and he knows he can shove it by everybody, he's going to do it.”

It wasn’t guaranteed that Barco was going to get the call before the end of this season, even with the quality results. The need wasn’t yet known, and he was preparing to go to Florida to stay ready as a member of the taxi squad instead.

Barco got the better outcome and a chance to reach the Majors. He was going to need to be added to the roster this winter to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, and this way, he can get a taste of what the Majors has to offer.

“When you talk about stuff, mid- to upper-90s and attack the strike zone, and [he can] throw his offspeed for swing and miss, too,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “Just really excited to see him and give him a head start at the end of this year going into next year."

Barco is hardly the first highly-touted rookie pitcher for Pittsburgh this year. Bubba Chandler is the top pitching prospect in the game, Mike Burrows and Braxton Ashcraft have been contributors for most of the season and No. 9 prospect Thomas Harrington got a couple cups of coffee in the Majors, too.

For a Pirates team that is looking to be competitive soon on the back of that young pitching, they just added another one of their best arms to the Major League mix.

“I mean, it's awesome,” Barco said. “This is what everyone's been talking about the last couple years, getting that group up here. We're here and ready to win some baseball games.”