Pittsburgh Pirates Top Pitching Prospect Hit With Injury

One of the Pittsburgh Pirates and MLB's most exciting young arms will be out for the foreseeable future, as the organization announced on Monday that they're placing Seth Hernandez on the injured list.

According to MLB Pipeline's Jonathan Mayo, Pittsburgh's top pitching prospect and the No. 6 overall prospect in baseball is dealing with a left oblique issue, which occurred during his last outing on Friday.

In that start, Hernandez only pitched three innings, allowing one hit and striking out five batters. 

It's still unclear what exactly the timeline is far Hernandez to return to the mound.

Obviously, a team never wants one of its brightest young players to end up on the injured list. However, there is some good news: the injury isn't to his throwing arm.

Obliques can still take a while to recover from, but it shouldn't mean risking the dreaded arm surgery that could cause pitchers to miss potentially years of progress and development. 

Hernandez was selected No. 20 overall in the 2025 MLB Draft and made his affiliate debut earlier this season. The 20-year-old has made 18 starts across Single-A and High-A in 2026, and owns a 2.43 ERA and a 1.054 WHIP.

The right-hander's biggest strength has been his fastball, which sits around 97 mph and can top out in the triple digits, helping Henadez have a high punchout potential. In 2026, he has a strikeout rate of 48.1 percent and a walk rate of just 6.7 percent.

Hernandez showcased this potential earlier this month as he pitched a clean 1-2-3 inning for the National League in the Rising Stars Game. He generated two strikeouts and one foul flyout in that appearance.

Given the ace and start potential Herndnadez has, it makes sense the organization doesn't want to take any risk with his health. 

As for Pittsburgh's plans for the rest of this season, Hernandez's injury really shouldn't impact the rest of the big-league roster's 2026 plans.

Hernandez is still only at High-A, so a big-league debut this year was always extremely rare and likely never truly in the cards at the beginning of the season.

Plus, it would've been extremely shocking to see Pittsburgh trade a young starting pitcher with the prospect stock Hernandez has. 

The next step for Hernandez is to get healthy and get back on the mound when the time is right, as the Pirates' front office looks for ways to improve the rest of the big-league roster.