Pirates Nurture Hernandez, MLB's Next Star

0:00It's April 20th, from first pitch to the final out. This is MLB News today, powered by AI, on Cory with the story. The Pittsburgh Pirate Snag right handed pitcher Seth Hernandez, sixth overall in the 2025 MLB draft, straight out of Corona High, school in California. At just 19 years old, he's already lighting it up in single A. Bradenton, with a 0.75 ERA, over 12 innings pitched. 23 strikeouts against three walks, a 0.077 batting average allowed, and a 0.50 Whip. Pirates General Manager Ben Charrington broke it down on the Pirates Insider show, April 19th, right after Hernandez's latest start. He praised the kid's talent but stressed handling him case by case, no hard ceilings, while building him up smart. Hernandez comes from a high school background, where he topped out at 56 innings as a junior, 153 as a senior, way short of what MLB. Starters like Mitch Keller and Paul Schien's handle now, around 170 to 180 innings with

1:0430 plus starts. The team plans to challenge him without rushing, likely bumping him to high at Greensboro if he keeps dominating. He stretches outings each time, from three innings in his debut to five in the last one, and they aim to ramp toward 100 innings in, 20, 26. Our play by the Pirates to nurture this gym gradually, setting him up to join their rotation, rotation down the line, without burning out early.