Seth Hernandez Shines In Pro Debut for Bradenton
With a rain out on Thursday night, Seth Hernandez’s professional debut had to wait until Friday, but was certainly worth it.
The Pittsburgh Pirates’ sixth overall selection in the 2025 MLB Draft debuted for the Bradenton Marauders against the Dunedin Blue Jays - Toronto’s Low A ball affiliate.
After giving up a leadoff triple, on the very first professional pitch he threw in the bottom of the first, Hernandez allowed the run, but struck out three batters.
The final line for Hernandez was three innings of work, one earned run, no walks, and eight strikeouts.
Hernandez’s dominant stuff was on full display Friday evening, with a sinker at 97-99 mph, a four-seam fastball at 94-97, an 89-91 cutter, in which he got four of his eight Ks with, a plus curveball at 79-81, and a changeup at 84-86 mph. 30 of Hernandez’s 39 pitches were for strikes, including 18 swings and misses, for an excellent, whiff rate of 46.2%.
With the graduation of Bubba Chandler, Hernandez now finds himself as the top pitching arm in the Pirates’ organization.