Pirates reward top prospect with promotion after franchise record accomplishment

On Saturday afternoon, Hunter Barco made another start with the Altoona Curve and threw five scoreless innings, striking out four. This outing marks 25.2 straight innings for Barco without any runs allowed to open up the season.

That impressive stat actually made history for the Curve, marking a franchise record for consecutive scoreless innings. Barco's start to the season was straight up dominant, and now he has been rewarded with his name in the record books.

If that wasn't enough, Barco was also rewarded with a promotion, as the Pirates decided to move him up to the next step towards the big leagues.

He will join Indianapolis' strong rotation, featuring other top-ranked prospects Bubba Chandler, Thomas Harrington, Braxton Ashcraft, and Mike Burrows.

Pirates promote Hunter Barco to Triple-A following his historical scoreless streak.

Barco is ranked as the seventh-best prospect in the organization and top-ranked southpaw according to MLB Pipeline. After returning from Tommy John surgery in 2023, Barco has not looked back, using all his tools to put together a career ERA of 2.54 and a 1.01 WHIP in the minor leagues.

Last season he was very successful, posting a 3.27 ERA across 66 innings, with a K/9 of 11.32 and a WHIP of 1.06. Barco's success sent him into 2025 with a lot of eyes on him, and he actually entered the season with an uptick in velocity, sitting around 95-96 mph after previously being around 93 mph.

That increase in velocity has evidently benefitted him a lot, accounting for his 0.00 ERA, along with a 11.92 K/9 and a 0.70 WHIP. Double-A hitters have completely struggled to produce any offense off of him, which is why the Pirates decided it is time for the 24-year-old with just 110 career innings to get the chance in Triple-A.

If Barco keeps things up, his debut could happen in 2025. The Pirates are currently 10 games behind .500, which is an early sign of being sellers at the deadline. Andrew Heaney will likely be one of the first to go (in trade) if he keeps this up, creating a spot in the rotation to add another left-hander.

This promotion could also be indicating another potential debut. Chandler is doing very well in Triple-A and is one of the top-ranked prospects in all of baseball. Paul Skenes wants him up here, so with the window to save a year of service time, his debut could come very soon, further opening Barco's spot in Indianapolis.

This move was definitely earned, yet it will be very exciting to see what follows. Indianapolis has a dominant rotation right now and it got even better. Pittsburgh needs a spark, and hopefully these young guys can do just that when the time comes.