Here's what to expect from Pirates prospect Harrington in the big leagues

Whether it¡¯s for one start to bridge a gap and give Paul Skenes an early extra day of rest or if he gets a longer period of time to show what he can do, the one thing the Pirates know for sure about Thomas Harrington as he approaches his big league debut against the Rays on Tuesday night is that he really knows how to pitch.

The Pirates¡¯ pick in the Competitive Balance Round A in 2022 and currently the organization¡¯s No. 3 prospect (No. 78 on the Top 100), Harrington entered pro ball out of Campbell as a Draft-eligible sophomore with a reputation of his feel for his craft and the strike zone. Initially a walk-on with the Fighting Camels, he was the Big South Conference Freshman of the Year in 2021, then won Pitcher of the Year honors the next year, setting school records in wins (12) and strikeouts (111). He became the highest-drafted pitcher in the program¡¯s history when he went No. 36 overall.

In many ways, Harrington is the same 6-foot-2 right-hander the Pirates drafted nearly three years ago. He¡¯s very athletic on the mound (a former high school quarterback), and that helps him repeat his delivery and throw a ton of strikes. He¡¯s walked just 2.2 per nine in his professional career heading into this season and walked just 1.5 per nine between Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis in 2024. His 6.05 K/BB ratio last year was third among all Minor Leaguers with at least 100 innings pitched.

He hasn¡¯t lost any ability to find the zone even as he¡¯s continued to add to and change his arsenal. He began his career with a four-pitch mix -- fastball, slider, curve, changeup -- plenty to compete as a future big league starter. His sweeper is still his best breaking ball, he uses a splitter now as his main offspeed offering, folds in a cutter and still will throw the occasional curve.

As much talk as there is about how high a floor Harrington has because of his ability to command the baseball, as is often the case with guys like this, his actual pure stuff can get short shrift. He¡¯s not just a touch-and-feel guy who is a No. 5 starter at best. It¡¯s the combination of that feel for pitching and some really good stuff that give Harrington some ceiling as well. It might be tough to compete stuff-wise in an organization that features Skenes, Jared Jones and top prospect Bubba Chandler. But Harrington has three at least above-average offerings in his fastball, slider and splitter, and while his cutter gets largely average grades and the curve is fringy on its own, his ability to mix them in at the right time make them very viable options.

His fastball sits around 93 mph and tops out around 95, but it has good run and carry with spin up in the zone, so it plays up. That 83-mph sweeper routinely registers spin rates north of 2,600, and it can miss bats. The mid-80s splitter tumbles and fades and can also be a true out pitch. He cranks that cutter into the upper-80s, giving him a shorter, harder breaker to use. The curve might be his fifth-best pitch, but it did elicit a 42-percent miss rate according to Synergy last year.

One of the good things about a craftsman with tools is that he can create a work of art with any number of them. Harrington is adept at adjusting on the mound, so if one or more of his pitches isn¡¯t quite as effective, he can get to work with the other three and be just as successful. He¡¯s not going to come in and create Skenes-like buzz, but if given the opportunity to stick around, he could eat up a whole lot of quality innings in the middle of a rotation.