PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Thomas Harrington made his MLB debut against the Tampa Bay Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla. and struggled throughout.

Harrington got into trouble early in the first inning, allowing a single to Rays designated hitter Yandy Diaz and walking second baseman Brandon Lowe.

He got third baseman Junior Caminero to fly out, but then fellow rookie in Rays right fielder Jake Mangum would hit a double, scoring both Diaz and Lowe for a 2-0 lead.

Harrington forced second baseman Curtis Mead to fly out, but then allowed a single to left fielder Kameron Misner. Mangum would come around and Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz missed the ball when he picked it up, allowing Misner to score and make it a 3-0 lead.

He ended the first inning with his first strikeout against shortstop Taylor Walls and had a decent second inning, only allowing a single to Diaz, while getting three ground outs.

Harrington allowed a single to Mangum to start the third inning. Mangum then stole second base and after he walked Mead, he threw a wild pitch that moved both runners up a base. Misner would hit a sacrifice fly off of him and make it 4-0.

Diaz singled off of him in the fourth inning and then Harrington allowed a two-run home run over the right field wall from Lowe, making it a 6-0 deficit.

He finished his day by allowing seven hits, four walks and six earned runs with just two strikeouts over 90 pitches.

Harrington earned his first start, as the Pirates called him up the same day, designating catcher Jason Delay for assignment to put him on the 40-day roster and moving right-handed pitcher David Bednar down to Triple-A Indianapolis.

He started 12 of 13 games in 2024 for Double-A Altoona in 2024, with a 2-2 record, 2.24 ERA in 68 1/3 innings, 74 strikeouts to 10 walks and an opposing batting average of .227.

Harrington moved up to Triple-A Indianapolis on Aug. 4 and finished with a 5-1 record in eight starts, a 3.33 ERA in 46 innings, 38 strikeouts to eight walks and an opposing batting average of .212.

Harrington made his first spring start against the Philadelphia Phillies on March 18 at LECOM Park in Bradenton, Fla., a 3-2 win on a walk-off home run for the Pirates.

He allowed a home run to Phillies designated hitter Nick Castellanos in the top of the first inning, but that served as the only hit he allowed in 3 2/3 innings, with just one walk and three strikeouts on the day.

Harrington also started the Grapefruit League finale on March 24 vs. the Minnesota Twins at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Fla. He allowed four earned runs over three innings in the 5-1 defeat.

He is the No. 3 prospect in the Pirates system and No. 79 prospect overall according to MLB Pipeline.

Harrington starred for Southern Lee High School in Sanford, N.C., with a 4-0 record, 0.32 ERA and 54 strikeouts over 43.2 innings worked in his junior season in 2019. 

He would commit to Campbell as a walk-on, not playing his senior high school season as COVID-19 pandemic cancelled it.

Harrington starred in 2021 as a freshman, starting 14 of 16 he pitched in, a 6-3 record, a 3.45 ERA in 75.2 innings pitched and 75 strikeouts to 28 walks. He earned Big South Freshman of the Year, Second Team All-Big South and Freshman All-American honors from CBN, Baseball America and D1Baseball.

He improved in his sophomore season, going 12-2 in 15 starts, a 2.53 ERA in 92.2 innings pitched, 111 strikeout to 18 walks and held opposing hitters to a .204 batting average. 

Harrington earned First Team All-American honors from D1Baseball and ABCA, Second Team All-American honors from NCBWA and Collegiate Baseball News and Third Team All-American honors from Baseball America, He was also the Big South Pitcher of the Year and made the First Team All-Big South.

The Pirates would select Harrington with the No. 36 overall pick in Round 1, as a competitive balance pick, earning a $2,050,000 million signing bonus. 

Harrington started out 2023 with the Bradenton Marauders of the Florida State League at Single-A, where he had a 4-1 record in eight starts, 2.77 ERA in 39.0 innings, 40 strikeouts to 12 walks and held opposing hitters to a .230 batting average.

He earned a promotion to the Greensboro Grasshoppers of High Single-A in June 2023, where he spent the rest of the season. He had a 3-5 record in 18 starts, a 3.87 ERA in 88.1 innings pitched, 106 strikeouts to 29 walks and holding opposing hitters to a .255 batting average.

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The Pittsburgh Steelers refrained from splurging for a top-end talent on the interior of the defensive line in free agency, leaving them with a hole at the position heading into the NFL Draft.

General manager Omar Khan appears confident in the team’s current assortment of options there, however, which may have influenced that decision.

“I like the group we have,” Khan said at the NFL league meetings. “We did sign [Daniel] Ekuale, he’s done some really good things. Logan Lee is healthy, he has a chance to step up and be a part of it. But you know, I feel good about some of the guys we have on the line.”

Ekuale is the Steelers’ highest-profile addition, per se, at defensive tackle so far this offseason. He agreed to a one-year deal worth $2.8 million with the team on March 16 after starting 16 games for the New England Patriots in 2024, during which he logged 52 tackles.

The 31-year-old is entering the seventh year of his career and should provide valuable depth as a solid run defender. He is among the current favorites to start alongside Cameron Heyward and Keeanu Benton following Larry Ogunjobi’s release, but Pittsburgh rosters a bevy of other veterans such as Montravius Adams and Dean Lowry who may also push for snaps.

With Lee, who missed his entire rookie campaign last year due to a calf injury, and Isaiahh Loudermilk back in the fold as well, there’s plenty of players on the depth chart who will have opportunities to prove themselves this summer.

The issue, however, is that Pittsburgh doesn’t have a clear long-term starter in place beyond Heyward and Benton. Head coach Mike Tomlin isn’t panicking though, as he believes there’s plenty of time before the draft to sort the situation out before declaring the position as a true need.

“You know, I think that we’re open to acquiring good players at all positions, and I don’t know that we’ve placed a pecking order, if you will, on positional needs as we sit here today,” Tomlin said. “I’m not saying that we won’t, I’m just saying that there’s a lot of time between now and the Draft, and oftentimes the information that we collect between now and then, whether it’s us or the needs of other people or the depths of the pools at the positions, a lot of things go into to weighing the ‘need’ component, and so we’re just not there yet.”

The expectation is that the Steelers will select a defensive tackle with one of their first picks, as Michigan’s Kenneth Grant and Oregon’s Derrick Harmon are potential first-round targets. Furthermore, there should be enticing prospects left on the board come Day 2 as well.

While there’s still work left to do, it doesn’t appear as though Khan or Tomlin feel pressured to find a solution and will examine the circumstances closely before making a significant move.

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