PIRATES

The Pirates selected right-handed pitcher Seth Hernandez from Corona High School in California with the No. 6 overall pick in the MLB Draft, and Jared Jones may have played a part. 

Jones attended La Mirada High School, located approximately 29 miles away from Corona. The two played for the same travel program -- BPA -- and met at a banquet recently, Hernandez said during a Zoom session tonight. 

"At the time, he was like 'Yeah, man. I hope you come to Pittsburgh with me.' To be able to do that, he kind of spoke it into existence in a way," Hernandez said. 

Hernandez, 19, said he had two good meetings with the Pirates -- one at the combine and one in California -- and left feeling good. He felt confident about their conversations and was excited about the opportunity to learn from Jones and Paul Skenes.

"I kinda always wanted to be there," Hernandez said. "Obviously, with the Pirates, a great organization, so being able to be picked by them was super surreal. But also, being able to share the field with those guys is super cool. Being able to come here was a dream come true." 

Hernandez, 6-4, 200 pounds, was ranked as the top pitching prospect in the draft. Baseball America listed him at No. 2 overall, MLB Pipeline had him at No. 3. Justin Horowitz, the Pirates' director of amateur scouting, said he thought there was a chance Hernandez might fall to No. 6 but said, "If we're being honest, we thought the odds were against that." 

The Nationals drafted 17-year-old shortstop Eli Willits with the first pick. UC Santa Barbara's Tyler Bremner was the first pitcher off the board at No. 2, going to the Angels. Then Louisiana State's Kade Anderson and Tennessee's Liam Doyle went at No. 3 to the Mariners and No. 5 to the Cardinals, respectively.

"We had high, high levels of enthusiasm for what Seth can do now and what we think he can do in the future. He's an incredible athlete. He can manipulate the baseball, he throws a ton of strikes, he's projectable, he's explosive, and he's an awesome kid," Horowitz said. "I'll be honest, he's a great kid to be around. He's a culture changer. He's competitive. He's focused. He has a professional demeanor about him. He just checks so many of our boxes, to be honest. We were pumped when we had the opportunity to grab him at six." 

Hernandez has been compared to Reds star Hunter Greene. He has a fastball that's been clocked at 100 mph, but sits in the mid-90s. He has two breaking pitches -- a slider and a spike curveball -- that are above average. However, his changeup sets him apart. He can locate it for a strike consistently and Baseball America ranked it as one of the "nastiest" pitches in this year's draft, as it generated a 65% miss rate over the last two seasons.

"My changeup has always been my bread and butter, but I think this year, especially, I was able to spin all four pitches for strikes," Hernandez said. "I think it was just being able to fine-tune my mechanics, make them repeatable, and once that happened, the breaking stuff really just started to lock in." 

With his arsenal and a smooth delivery, which includes a three-quarters arm slot, Hernandez has the potential to be a top-of-the-rotation pitcher. It's easily repeatable and online, which allows him to make quick adjustments to his mechanics. 

Horowitz said the Pirates will have to get Hernandez into the organization before seeing how quickly he can move through the system. It starts with building a workload.

"I will say that Seth has the talent and the work ethic to compete right away. Depending on how that works out, when we get him into our system down in Florida and we get to meet him, get to know where he is, get to see how he's feeling physically and what his next steps will be," Horowitz said. "So, as far as the future goes, still obviously very much to be determined. But, as far as his talent level and his ability to do a lot of different things with the baseball, he's a pretty advanced high-school righty."

A few of Hernandez's highlights: 

Hernandez was homeschooled starting in the eighth grade and started attending Corona as a junior. He was on the radar of professional teams before that.

He said he started garnering attention after pitching at an Area Code Select showcase at Dodger Stadium with some of the top California and Arizona prospects.

"I did really well there. I lit up the radar gun a little bit. I got some more eyes on me and a little more attention," Hernandez said. "That’s a moment I look back to just because it was really cool to not only pitch at Dodger Stadium, but to pitch in front of all those scouts and big-name guys." 

Hernandez won MVP honors at USA Baseball's National High School Invitational in Cary, N.C. during his junior year by throwing a 99-pitch shutout to help Corona win the tournament. He went on to produce a 0.62 ERA over 56 innings that season. As a senior, he produced a 0.39 ERA over 53 1/3 innings, struck out 105 batters and walked seven. He was named the 2024-2025 Gatorade National Player of the Year, hitting for a .319 batting average with seven home runs and 30 RBIs in 100 at-bats.