Hunter Barco levels up pitch mix as Pirates rotation spot looms

There’s a job open in the Pittsburgh Pirates rotation, and Hunter Barco is forcing his way into the conversation.

When he tossed three scoreless innings in a 6-1 spring win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on Sunday, Barco didn’t show up with the same toolkit. He doubled it.

Historically, Barco leaned heavily on his four-seam fastball, slider and splitter. That foundation flashed promise — and on this day, it still carried him. He threw his fastball 28 times out of 44 pitches, generating seven whiffs. His slider induced three swings-and-misses in eight tries.

But this offseason, Barco added a sinker, a changeup and a sweeper. The sinker and sweeper are specifically designed to neutralize left-handed hitters — a critical development for a left-handed starter trying to survive multiple times through a big-league lineup. The changeup gives him a speed differential weapon to disrupt timing when hitters start sitting on velocity.

In short? Barco is building a starter’s mix, not a depth arm’s mix — and he knows what he's up against.

Barco is part of a crowded field that includes a veteran pitcher in Mike Clevinger, an experienced arm in José Urquidy and internal options in Carmen Mlodzinski and Thomas Harrington. But Barco isn’t approaching spring like someone hoping to sneak in. He’s attacking it like someone expanding his ceiling.

Hunter Barco is forcing his way into the conversation about the Pirates' starting rotation

The Pirates don’t just need innings from Barco. They need versatility. They need a left-hander who can miss bats (seven whiffs on 28 heaters), who can spin multiple breaking ball shapes, and who can adjust his attack plan based on the handedness of the batter. That’s how you turn from “depth piece” into legitimate rotation candidate.

Sunday's spring start wasn’t loud in the box score — no hits allowed, two walks, three strikeouts. It was solid, clean and efficient. But the real headline is underneath it: Barco is no longer just refining what he already had. He's leveling up.

If the added pitches translate from experimentation into execution, the Pirates suddenly have a left-handed starter capable of neutralizing both sides of the plate — a valuable commodity for a club trying to turn improved offense into meaningful wins.

Learning when to deploy new pitches — especially under competition pressure — is one of the hardest adjustments young starters face. And if Barco keeps stacking outings like this while sharpening a six-pitch mix, the Pirates will have a difficult rotation decision to make.