Pirates All 40: Hunter Barco the Lone Lefty Starter
This is one in a series breaking down players on the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 40-man roster.
Things could very well change between now and the start of the season, but as it stands Hunter Barco is the only left-handed starting pitcher on the roster.
Barco, who is considered baseball’s 78th-best prospect according to MLB Pipeline, made his big-league debut late in the 2025 season. He got the win in his first game against the Reds in Cincinnati after a scoreless inning out of the bullpen and threw two-scoreless frames against the Braves in Atlanta and recorded three strikeouts in his second appearance.
The 25-year-old got off to a dominant start to the season with Double-A Altoona with 25.2-scorless innings across six starts. During that span, Barco allowed only 11 hits, walked seven and struck out 34.
Barco’s fast start to the year resulted in a quick promotion to Triple-A Indianapolis. The left-hander made 21 appearances/17 starts after he was promoted and went 3-1 with a 3.79 ERA with 82 strikeouts in 73.2 innings.
The start of Barco’s professional career with the Pirates was delayed until 2023 due to Tommy John surgery. He was recovering when the Pittsburgh selected him in the second round of the 2022 draft out of the University of Florida.
In three seasons in the minor leagues, Barco is 8-5 with a 3.04 ERA in 54 appearances/47 starts. Across 183.2 innings, he’s allowed 135 hits with 77 walks and 227 strikeouts.
Barco is one of a handful of promising young starting pitchers the Pirates have who are major league ready.
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said the team would like to add starting pitching after trading a pair of pitchers earlier in the winter. Regardless of whether or not the Pirates sign a free agent or make a trade for one, Barco will likely be in competition for a rotation spot at the start of spring training next month.
Depending on how things unfold, he’s probably on the outside looking in initially. But even if he’s sent back to Indianapolis to start the year, Barco will very likely be called upon at some point in 2026.
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Good assessment. I hope no one gets injured this year, but l know better. We will need him. And l predict he will answer the bell well.
Given that we have so many young guys that aren’t ready for a 180 inning work load this year, or even 160, l look for them to get creative. Maybe a 6 man rotation, or games where they run Ashcraft, Jones, and/or Barco out there for 3 or 4 innings apiece.
Barco will probably start in Indianapolis. We have enough youth in the starting rotation. I look for cherrington to bring a lefty veteran pictcher in soon, I hope
I’ve been a Barco homer since he was drafted. I saw him pitch in the SEC and thought he would be a really good SP one day. I also think he should start in AAA to start the season since our depth is so weak right now. Hopefully we can get a starter in free agency to fill out the rotation and have Barco as the first option up.