ALTOONA — Just hours before the Altoona Curve hosted its media day, word circulated with the kind of news that every baseball player dreams about while toiling at the Double-A affiliate.
Thomas Harrington earned a promotion to the Pittsburgh Pirates and would make his major league debut against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
It wasn’t even a year ago that Harrington, a 23-year-old right-handed pitcher, was wearing the Curve’s brick red and bronze uniform for the first time. Now, his former teammates were thrilled for him, especially left-hander Hunter Barco. They were drafted eight picks apart in the same 2022 class, Harrington at No. 36 overall and Barco at No. 44, and lived together during spring training in Bradenton, Fla.
“I’m super excited for him for that,” Barco said. “Me and him have been really close since the draft. We lived together when we first got to Pirate City. We only crossed playing for a couple weeks here last year, but he’s a laid-back guy and he’s going to go out there and compete. He loves the game of baseball. He loves to pitch. He’s laid back, relaxed. He’s not going to get too ahead of himself and stay in the moment.”
Harrington’s arrival in Altoona was delayed by a rotator cuff injury, so he didn’t join the Curve until May. After going 2-2 with a 2.24 ERA and 74 strikeouts against 10 walks in 68 1/3 innings over 13 games (12 starts), he was promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis.
In eight starts at Indianapolis, Harrington went 5-1 with a 3.33 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 38 strikeouts against eight walks over 46 innings. He entered this spring as the Pirates’ No. 3 prospect and in the top-100 rankings by both Baseball America (No. 73) and MLB Pipeline (No. 79).
“Honestly, what you guys see from him is exactly who he is — a pretty calm, cool, collected dude,” said Curve righty reliever Justin Meis, a Bethel Park alum. “As far as pitching, he might not blow you away with 95 miles an hour but the way he’s able to pitch is there. He’s just a super good dude. He’s professional, the way he goes about his work. I got a chance to talk to him this morning and tell him congrats. He’s obviously super excited. I’m super happy for him.”
Meis enters his third season with the Curve, so he’s watched former teammates Kyle Nicolas and Jared Jones reach the majors with the Pirates and is thrilled for Harrington to get his chance.
“It’s super cool as a friend of theirs to congratulate them and, hopefully, I’m not too far behind them,” Meis said. “They’re great dudes and I’m cheering them on but, hopefully, I’ll be up there with them soon.”
