Pittsburgh Pirates Draft: Examining Thomas Harrington’s Skill Set

The Pittsburgh Pirates completed the second of their three, day one picks in the 2022 MLB Draft by selecting a right-handed college pitcher Thomas Harrington

On Sunday night, the Pittsburgh Pirates had two of the first 40 picks at 4 and 36. The first of the three Day One picks resulted in the Pirates taking SS/2B Termarr Johnson. Their latter pick, as aforementioned above was the 6’2″ righty, Thomas Harrington.

Harrington was a dual sport athlete in high school as he played quarterback, up until he got hurt and decided to fully focus on baseball his senior year. This switch led to a few Division 1 offers, but Harrington decided to test his luck and walk on to the team at Campbell University.

This decision turned out to be a great one, as in his first colligate season, he carried a 6-3 record with an ERA of 3.45 and a WHIP of 1.23. These numbers led to a number of accolades, such as being named a First-Team Freshman All-American and the Big South Freshman of the Year.

While these numbers were impressive, they only got better in 2022. his ERA dropped to 2.53 with a record of 12-2 and a WHIP of 1.07. Another great improvement that he made, was the number of home runs he allowed dropped from 7 down to 1.

Harrington currently has a four-pitch repertoire consisting of a fastball, changeup, slider, and a curveball. His best two pitches are his fastball which usually sits in the mid-90s and the changeup which sits in the 80s. The slider also sits in the mid-80s, then his changeup sits down in the mid-70s.

This addition will most certainly help to bolster one of the areas of the Pirates farm system that needs the most help in, which is pitching.  As the Pirates continue to add more players through the 2022 MLB Draft, stay up to date with all of the picks here at Rum Bunter.