If there is one thing the Pittsburgh Pirates have figured out, it’s developing pitchers. Braxton Ashcraft, Bubba Chandler, Jared Jones, and many more have gone from prospects to legitimate MLB pitchers. They’ve also found plenty of relievers and turned them into quality bullpen arms. 2026 will be a pivotal year for multiple hurlers on the Pirates’ roster. The question is, after struggling at times in the major leagues, can the Pirates figure them out to help them succeed this year?
Three Pitchers for the Pirates to Figure Out This Season
Kyle Nicolas
2025 was a summation of a usual Kyle Nicolas season: plenty of ups and downs throughout. He struggled badly early in the year. In just 7.2 innings, Nicolas allowed nine earned runs and eight walks. Two of the ten hits he surrendered were home runs. That led to his demotion at the start of May. Nicolas made a brief appearance in June and would get another shot to stick in the bullpen in August. This time, the numbers were a lot better.
The right-hander pitched to a much healthier 3.46 ERA, 2.90 FIP, and 1.15 WHIP over his last 26 innings of 2025. His walk rate shrunk to 8.4%, while his strikeout rate rose to 24.3%. Nicolas only allowed a single home run with a solid 7.1% barrel percentage. He also had a 44.9% ground-ball percentage.
There’s never been a question about Nicolas’ abilities. His four-seam fastball sat at 97.6 MPH last season. He did so with just 11.6 inches of vertical break and 6.9 inches of horizontal movement. His low-90s slider also has plus movement and induced a whiff 45.1% of the time. Nicolas only allowed a single hit on the 144 curveballs he threw last season, and had a 50% whiff rate on the pitch. On top of that, he was in the 93rd percentile of extension, making his already blazing fastball that much faster. That all culminated in a strong 106 FanGraphs Stuff+ mark.
Having consistent command over his pitches has always been a problem for Nicolas. Even as a draft prospect in 2020, MLB Pipeline only projected him to have 45-grade control. There are a lot of pitchers who throw hard and never figure it out. However, Nicolas is on a team well-equipped to try and figure it out. His overall stuff is too good not to figure it out.
Evan Sisk
Evan Sisk was a trade deadline acquisition by the Bucs. He was sent over from the Kansas City Royals, alongside first base prospect Callan Moss, for left-handed starter Bailey Falter. The southpaw reliever spent most of his year at Triple-A, where he had a 4.38 ERA, 3.93 FIP, and 1.649 WHIP. A .382 batting average on balls in play made his ERA suffer. Sisk put up solid peripherals, with a 24.4% strikeout rate, 8.7% BB%, and induced ground balls at an impressive 61.6% clip.
Sisk pitched 17 2/3 innings in the big leagues with the Royals and Pirates, where he only allowed seven earned runs, one home run, and had a 50% ground ball rate. The Southpaw racked up 25 strikeouts and induced a whiff at a 31.3% rate. The only downside was that he allowed 10 free passes in the small sample size.
Evan Sisk’s first strikeout in Black & Gold 👏 pic.twitter.com/o0RLRLlNEr
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) August 15, 2025
Unlike Nicolas, Sisk doesn’t use velocity to get good Stuff+ grades. He had an identical 106 FanGraphs Stuff+ while sitting 89-90 MPH with his sinker and four-seamer. However, he throws his offerings from a low, 16-degree arm angle. He also has phenomenal extension off the mound, at 6.9 feet (87th percentile). Both Sisk’s curveball and sweeper had a whiff rate over 40%, and his sinker’s whiff rate came in at 32.4%.
Sisk has been trending in the right direction the last three seasons. In 2023, he had a walk rate of just 13.8%. He cut that down to 11.4% in 2024, and then below 9% in 2025. He gets enough ground balls and enough swings and misses that even a 10% walk rate will play. Sisk has a safe chance to break out with the Pirates in 2026 if they give him the opportunity, even more so than Nicolas.
Thomas Harrington
Thomas Harrington entered 2025 as one of the Pirates’ best prospects. He was a consensus top 100 prospect, and Baseball America ranked him as the Bucs’ third-best prospect. He earned that after putting up a 2.61 ERA, 3.11 FIP, and 0.963 WHIP over 117 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A in 2024. Harrington also struck out 25.1% of opponents with a fantastic 4.1% walk percentage. Unfortunately, the right-hander missed his opportunity to snag a rotation spot in 2025.
He struggled badly at Triple-A, with a 5.34 ERA, 5.55 FIP, and 1.313 WHIP over 96 frames of work. His walk rate nearly doubled to 8%, while his K% fell to 21.7%. However, his biggest struggle was home runs. Harrington had just a 0.69 HR/9 in 2024. That skyrocketed to 1.88 last year. It also didn’t help that he allowed 15 earned runs, seven walks, and three home runs in 8 2/3 big league innings.
Harrington doesn’t have the same sort of stuff you’d see from relievers like Nicolas or Sisk. He sits in the low-90s with his fastball that has plus arm-side movement. He has a wide variety of other pitches at his disposal. Harrington’s splitter is his primary offspeed pitch. He has two sliders: a more traditional one and a sweeper. The right-hander will also mix in a cutter. Interestingly, Harrington used a curveball semi-regularly at Triple-A, but not once in the major leagues.
Thomas Harrington and Wilber Dotel in the bullpen on a windy day in Bradenton: pic.twitter.com/cnaY1deDKZ
— Colin Beazley (@colin_beazley) February 15, 2026
Changing up Harrington’s pitch mix could be key for the Pirates, helping him break out in 2026. At this point last year, Harrington was a top 100 prospect in all of baseball. Many of Ben Cherington’s early-round draft picks who were pitchers have worked out: Paul Skenes, the aforementioned Jones and Chandler, along with Carmen Mlodzinski. With that sort of track record on recently drafted pitchers, it’s hard to imagine the Bucs not finding something that works for Harrington.
Main Photo Credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images