Pirates take top prep pitcher Seth Hernandez with No. 6 pick of 1st round in MLB Draft

The Pittsburgh Pirates have two of baseball’s top young starting pitchers in Paul Skenes and Jared Jones, but that didn’t stop them from selecting another right-hander from southern California in the first round of the MLB Draft.

Seth Hernandez was considered the top right-handed pitching prospect in the draft, so the Pirates didn’t hesitate to use the No. 6 pick on the 19-year-old from Corona (Calif.) High School.

“Obviously, the Pirates are a great organization. It was kind of a dream to be there, to be able to pick the brains of guys like Jones and Skenes,” Hernandez said Sunday night on a video conference call. “I kind of always wanted to be there … 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, so being able to come here was a dream come true.”

The 6-foot-4, 200-pounder is a Vanderbilt recruit with two elite pitches who projects as a top-of-the-rotation arm. MLB Network draft analyst Carlos Collazo of Baseball America called it a “phenomenal pick.”

“This is the best available,” Collazo said. “I think Seth Hernandez has the most pure upside of any player in this class. I think he has front-of-the-rotation upside. It’s a fastball that’s been up to 100 mph. It’s an elite 70-grade changeup. … He’s got a chance to have multiple breaking balls that are above-average pitches.”

Despite a need for hitting, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington promised to pick the best player available. The Pirates have a bonus pool of $14,088,400, with a slot value of $7,558,600 for the No. 6 pick. They have four draft picks in the top 100, with the Nos. 50, 73 and 82 selections.

“We are very excited to get the chance to work with Seth,” Cherington said in a statement. “His athleticism, velocity, ability to shape pitches and competitiveness are standout traits for a starting pitcher. He will be fun to watch develop.”

The Washington Nationals pulled a surprise by making 17-year-old shortstop Eli Willits of Fort Cobb-Broxton (Okla.) the youngest No. 1 overall pick in draft history. With the second selection, the Los Angeles Angels had another stunner in UC-Santa Barbara right-hander Tyler Bremner, who is ranked MLB Pipeline’s No. 18 prospect.

At No. 4, Stillwater (Okla.) shortstop Ethan Holliday went to the Colorado Rockies, who drafted his father, seven-time All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday, in 1998. Holliday is the brother of Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 overall pick in 2022. The St. Louis Cardinals selected Tennessee left-hander Liam Doyle at No. 5, putting the Pirates in position to pick Hernandez.

It marked the second consecutive year and third time in the last four years that the Pirates took a prep player with their first-round pick, after selecting shortstop Konnor Griffin ninth overall last year and second baseman Termarr Johnson at No. 4 in 2022. Hernandez is the fourth prep right-handed pitcher the Pirates have picked since 2010, when they selected Jameson Taillon No. 2 overall. They also took Shane Baz at No. 12 in 2017 and Quinn Priester at No. 18 in 2019.

Hernandez played for the BPA travel program, which also produced Jones, and the two met at a banquet.

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

Homeschooled until his junior year, Hernandez joined a prep powerhouse at Corona, which made history by producing three first-round picks in Hernandez and shortstops Billy Carlson (No. 10, Chicago White Sox) and Brady Ebel (No. 32, Milwaukee Brewers).

Hernandez instantly played a starring role, going 9-0 with an 0.62 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 56 innings and batting .352 with eight home runs and a 1.080 OPS in 2024. Hernandez was named the national Gatorade player of the year as a senior, when he was 9-1 with a 0.39 ERA and recorded 105 strikeouts in 53 1/3 innings. He tossed a shutout and was named MVP of the National High School Invitational.

Hernandez has a four-pitch mix that features a fastball that sits in the mid-90s and touches 99 mph. His bread-and-butter pitch is the changeup, which received a 70 grade on the 20-80 scouting scale. He also throws a curveball and a slider, and Hernandez said he was “able to fine-tune my mechanics, make them repeatable, and once that happened, the breaking stuff really just started to lock in” and “spin all four pitches for strikes.”

MLB Pipeline analyst Jonathan Mayo said Hernandez, who turned 19 on June 28, has drawn comparisons to Josh Beckett and Jose Fernandez.

“He’s more advanced than your typical high school pitcher, so he could move relatively quickly,” Mayo told TribLive. “It’s really interesting. I had this long-time executive tell me — and it took me by surprise because if you’re 19 years old as a high schooler, a lot of teams won’t even consider you because you’d get bounced from their models — but this guy told me that’s an advantage because he presents more like college pitcher but with really, really good power stuff. He’s not a guy who fills up the zone and is at 92-93. He’s up to 98-99, holds his velocity. He can spin two breaking balls. He’s got the best changeup of any pitcher in class, high school or college. You don’t see that from a high schooler.”