When the Pittsburgh Pirates selected left-handed pitcher Hunter Barco at No. 44 overall in Sunday’s first and second rounds of the MLB Draft, fans had mixed emotions.
After a successful season at the University of Florida, in which he went 5-2 with a 2.50 ERA in 50 innings, Barco underwent Tommy John surgery in May to reconstruct his UCL. This caused a stir among fans as they wondered why the Pirates used an early pick on him, but the focus lies on what he did with the Gators, rather than the aforementioned procedure.
In three years, spanning from 2020 to this year, Barco collected more than 189 strikeouts over 152.