Pirates Minor League Report: Hunter Barco Deals in Return from Injury

Two promising Pirates pitching prospects returned from injury last week, with Hunter Barco returning to his dominant standard after missing nearly two weeks with a shoulder strain and Carlson Reed making his 2025 debut.

Barco fanned seven batters in just three innings, walking three batters and allowing a hit but preventing any runs from crossing. His day ended at 61 pitches (35 strikes) as he began to run into trouble in the third inning — and, perhaps, out of an abundance of caution.

Reed began the season on the 60-day injured list with a back ailment but returned on Sunday, June 1, striking out two batters across 2.2 scoreless innings and 50 pitches.

Other noteworthy pitching performances include Po-Yu Chen, who pitched five scoreless in his Triple-A debut, fanning four batters; Alessandro Ercolani mowed throw four innings of one run ball on just 41 pitches, but received the loss as Altoona fell 3-0, while Bubba Chandler and Khristian Curtis each struck out eight batters on Friday, May 30.

At the plate, Maikol Escotto enjoyed a two-homer game on Wednesday, May 28, earning a promotion to Double-A two days later. Catcher Nick Cimillo hit three home runs on the week after a slow start to the season, while Esmerlyn Valdez put himself atop the High-A home run leaderboard with his 15th blast of the season.

2022 Pirates first round pick Termarr Johnson hit a two-run homer on June 1 to help Altoona erase a 4-0 deficit, and Konnor Griffin logged seven hits and swiped seven bases on the week, pushing his average to .310 with 25 steals.