Hernandez has dominated at Single-A Bradenton, posting a 0.75 ERA over 12.0 innings pitched, 23 strikeouts to three walks, a .077 batting average allowed (BAA) and a 0.50 WHIP.<\/p>\n
While Hernandez is starring so far, he is still 19 years old and Pirates general manager Ben Cherington knows how crucial his development is going forward.<\/p>\n
Pirates GM Addresses How They’ll Deal with Seth Hernandez<\/p>\n
Cherington spoke on the Pirates Insider Show on 93.7 The Fan on April 19 after Hernandez’s most recent start<\/a> and how they plan to approach his first season as a professional.<\/p>\n One thing that Cherington noted was that while Hernandez has performed incredibly well, he hasn’t really thrown many innings in his career yet and not anywhere near where he’ll need to as a starter at the major league level. <\/p>\n Jul 22, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Seth Hernandez (left) the Pittsburgh Pirates first round and number six overall pick in the 2025 first year player draft greets Pirates general manger Ben Cherington (right) before the game against the Detroit Tigers at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images<\/p>\n Cherington also said that they won’t stop Hernandez from getting better and improving, but that they have to make sure they are careful with his inning count in 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cI think first of all, just keep it case-by-case,” Cherington said. “Everybody is an individual. Seth\u2019s case is going to be different than anybody else\u2019s. It\u2019s definitely true he\u2019s off to a really good start. He\u2019s very talented.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the one hand, we don\u2019t want to create a sort of hard ceiling on what someone\u2019s capable of, but we\u2019re going to continue to challenge guys, including Seth, and sometimes that can mean with the right player, they can move faster. We\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that what\u2019s interesting about Seth and specifically is that as a high school pitcher, he just never pitched, I mean no high school pitcher, but including Seth, pitches that many innings, actually, over a course of a 12-month calendar between the high school season and the way the showcase stuff works.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re just not building up a lot of innings as a high school pitcher. So you come into pro ball, we know what the eventual outcome is we want. We want Seth, or any young starting pitching prospect to be in a position at some point to start to get into that 130-150-170 inning category where you see guys like [Mitch] Keller and [Paul] Skenes eventually graduate to.<\/p>\n \u201cBut that can\u2019t happen overnight. You can\u2019t go from 35 innings in high school to doing that right away. So you\u2019ve got to kind of create this ladder, for high school pitchers especially. That by itself, probably means the pace is going to look a little bit different than it would for a college pitcher or even a high school position player, where you\u2019re not as concerned about the total volume.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we\u2019ll see what happens. We\u2019re very glad he\u2019s a Pirate. He\u2019s an incredibly talented kid. He\u2019s off to a great start. We\u2019ll keep challenging, but we got to keep an eye on that, how much volume can you put on him in 2026 because we want that to be a step towards what it\u2019s going to be in the future.”\u00a0<\/p>\n How Hernandez Should Progress in 2026<\/p>\n Hernandez threw few innings during his time at Corona, with just 56 innings as a junior in 2024 and then 53 innings as a senior in 2025.<\/p>\n Pirates starting pitchers like Mitch Keller and Paul Skenes<\/a> will hit around the 170-180 innings mark this season with 30+ starts, something that Hernandez isn’t near yet.<\/p>\n Apr 18, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes (30) delivers a pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images<\/p>\n Hernandez has gone longer in each of his three starts, with just three innings and 39 pitches in his first start to four innings and 53 pitches in his second start and then five innings and 67 starts.<\/p>\n The Pirates will likely move him up to High-A Greensboro, particularly if he continues pitching like he has, but it’s unlikely he pitches the whole season. <\/p>\n Hernandez is at 12 innings so far and could get close to 100 innings in 2026, but he’s still a developing arm that the Pirates will want to see take on a bigger workload, but incrementally over time and not all at once. <\/p>\n![\"Pittsburgh](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01kpp6rh4j7mbhvn90cd.jpg\" "\\"Pittsburgh")
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