Pirates Prospect Update: Seth Hernandez reaches 100 Ks

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BRADENTON, FLORIDA - MARCH 20, 2026: Seth Hernandez #25 of the Pittsburgh Pirates throws a pitch during the first inning of a spring training Spring Breakout game against the Detroit Tigers at LECOM Park on March 20, 2026 in Bradenton, Florida. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images) | Diamond Images/Getty Images

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ top prospect, Seth Hernandez, continues to make waves in his first year of professional baseball. His most recent start saw the young pitcher establish himself as maybe the best pitching prospect in baseball.

Hernandez was on the bump for the Greensboro Grasshoppers in last Friday’s contest against the Rome Emperors when he earned his third win with the club. In that contest the 20-year-old righty racked up seven strikeouts while only allowing one run en-route to a 5-2 Grasshoppers victory. With his seven k’s came Hernandez’s most recent milestone as he became the first pitcher in the minor leagues to reach 100 strikeouts on the season.

Quickly Hernandez has established himself as one of the best prospects not only in the Pirates’ system but in all of minor league baseball. In his first year as a professional Hernandez has a 6-1 record with a 2.02 ERA and 100 strikeouts across 14 starts.

Seth Hernandez drops his ERA to 2.02 across 14 starts!

The @Pirates' top prospect strikes out seven — including his 100th of the year — in five innings of one-run ball for the High-A @GSOHoppers: pic.twitter.com/tc8kgi2guM

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 27, 2026

Greensboro pitching coach,Rafael Chaves, had high praise for Hernandez prior to his previous outing.

“I saw consistency within his delivery,” Chaves said. “When you’re looking at a kid like this, and going back on my years in the game, it reminds me of when I had Félix Hernández. This is pretty much a cliché, but [he’s] one of those [talents] where you run into them every 20 years.”

Hernandez is firmly in the mix of the recent success Pittsburgh has had in drafting and developing young pitchers. The young trio of Paul Skenes, Braxton Ashcraft and Jared Jones at the major league level speaks for itself. The Pirates have one of the best rotations in baseball right now with plenty of more talent that has since found success elsewhere in the majors or is still waiting in the wings of the minor leagues. When it’s all said and done Hernandez could end up being the best that this bunch has to offer.

Hernandez is currently the Pirates’ number one prospect, the seventh-ranked prospect in baseball and is the number one right-handed pitching prospect as well.

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