The Pittsburgh Pirates have become a powerhouse in pitching development. Their rotation is currently all homegrown, with Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Carmen Mlodzinski, Braxton Ashcraft, and Bubba Chandler all drafted by the Pirates. One of their best prospects, Seth Hernandez, was their 2025 first-round pick. He is also a consensus top 30 prospect. However, by the end of the year, the best non-Hernandez pitching prospect will be Khristian Curtis.
Curtis was the Pirates' 12th-round pick in 2023. The Bucs selected him out of Arizona State, but Curtis was still recovering from a botched Tommy John surgery while at Texas A&M. Even though he still wasn't at 100% when he debuted with A-Ball Bradenton in 2024, he still went out and posted a solid 3.98 ERA, 24.8% strikeout percentage, and 9.8% walk rate over 75.1 innings of work. Curtis also allowed home runs at a 1.19 HR/9 ratio.
Curtis then spent most of the 2025 season at High-A Greensboro. He put up very similar numbers at Greensboro as he did at Bradenton. Over 108.2 innings, the young right-hander owned a 3.90 ERA, struck out just over a quarter of opponents with a 25.1% K%, and kept a sub-10% walk rate at 9.8%. On the plus side, Curtis cut his HR/9 ratio down below 1.00, clocking in at 0.98.
However, Curtis is now mowing down hitters at Double-A Altoona. He made his debut for the Curve last year, pitching one game out of the bullpen. He has already made one start this year. He has only thrown seven innings in total at Double-A, but you couldn't ask for a better first impression. Curtis has already punched out a dozen hitters and has yet to allow a free pass. Opponents only have two knocks against him. One is a home run, which is also the lone earned run he allowed.
A good performance at Double-A is only one reason why he'll be the Pirates' best pitching prospect not named Seth Hernandez by the end of the year. The jump between High-A and Double-A is one of the most difficult for minor leaguers. So far, Curtis has had no problems making the jump. However, there are many other reasons worth noting.
Curtis has a quality mix of pitches. He throws his four-seamer in the mid-90s with above-average movement. He also throws a low-90s cutter, which BA states is his primary secondary pitch. Curtis throws two other breaking pitches, including a mid-80s slider and an upper-70s curveball. He rounds out his pitch mix with a mid-80s change-up. Three of his four secondary offerings, that being his slider, cutter, and change, all induced a whiff rate of 40% or greater, according to BA.
The pitch mix isn't the only thing that makes Curtis impressive. All four of his offerings project as average or better by BA. His fastball is a 60-grade (plus), while his slider, cutter, and change-up are all 55-grade (above-average). Only his curveball grades out as anything worse than a 55, but even that is a 50 (average). Throwing strikes consistently was his biggest challenge. However, he's fully recovered from Tommy John surgery and has a 6.5% walk rate and 20% K-BB% dating back to the end of last year's All-Star break.
That is also a much wider variety of above-average pitches than top pitching prospects who rank ahead of Curtis. Baseball America lists only two of Antwone Kelly's pitches as above-average: his fastball and change-up. Wilber Dotel's only projected above-average offerings are his fastball and slider.
Barring an unpredictable injury or Curtis playing enough in the Major Leagues to graduate prospect status this season, there is a real chance the right-hander is the Pirates' best non-Seth Hernandez pitching prospect by the end of the 2026 campaign. He has a wide variety of pitches at his disposal and is improving his command. His performance continues to improve as he climbs through the minor leagues. He is going to skyrocket up prospect lists with how well he has looked.
