The Pittsburgh Pirates are promoting one of their top pitching prospects, as right-hander Thomas Harrington will make his major league debut by starting Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Rays, sources confirmed to TribLive.
The 23-year-old Harrington, a 2022 first-round pick (No. 36 overall) out of Campbell University, is ranked the Pirates’ No. 3 prospect and a top-100 prospect by both Baseball America (No. 73) and MLB Pipeline (No. 79).
Harrington offers a five-pitch mix focused on a fastball that sits between 92-93 mph and touches 95 mph but was rated among the best in the minors last year in strike percentage. He balances his arsenal with a sweeper, splitter, cutter and curveball.
One of the final cuts of spring training, Harrington was 0-1 with a 5.59 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and seven strikeouts against three walks in 9⅔ innings over four appearances, including two starts, in Grapefruit League play.
The 6-foot-2, 185-pounder was 7-3 with a 2.61 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 115 strikeouts against only 19 walks in 117⅓ innings over 22 games (21 starts) across three levels of the minor leagues last season. He started the season at Double-A Altoona but finished at Triple-A Indianapolis, where Harrington was 5-1 with a 3.33 ERA, 38 strikeouts and eight walks in 46 innings over eight starts.
Harrington is scheduled to start against Shane Baz, a 2017 Pirates first-round draft pick who was sent to Tampa Bay as the player to be named in the Chris Archer deal in 2018.