Pirates' Hunter Barco: Sidelined with lower-body injury
Rotowire
Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said Friday that Barco was placed on Double-A Altoona's 7-day injured list July 30 with a "left lower-extremity" injury and will be confined to a walking boot for three weeks, Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
Tomczyk labeled Barco's injury as a "stress response" rather than a stress reaction, but with Double-A Altoona's season coming to an end Sept. 15, the left-hander could end up being shut down for 2024. Barco had missed most of the 2023 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery and missed about two weeks of action in July while he was on High-A Greensboro's development list. He returned July 21 with Altoona and made two starts at the Double-A level before being shut down with the lower-extremity injury.
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Pirates' Hunter Barco: Resting after strong first half
Rotowire
Barco, who has logged 62 innings in his first full season since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2022, was placed on the development list for High-A Greensboro on Tuesday.
Barco had surgery in May of 2022 and threw 18.1 innings in late 2023 after returning. He has been excellent thus far for the Grasshoppers, logging a 3.34 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 77 strikeouts across 16 appearances, but Pittsburgh is keeping a close eye on his workload. It's unclear when Barco will return from his break on the development list.
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Pirates' Hunter Barco: Active at Single-A
Rotowire
Barco (elbow) was activated from the 60-day injured list and assigned to Single-A Bradenton on Aug. 3.
He walked two and struck out two while recording just two outs in his first start for the Marauders on Sunday. Barco built up to four innings in his final rehab start in the Florida Complex League, so it's a bit surprising he recorded only two outs in his first Single-A start. He underwent Tommy John surgery prior to getting selected by the Pirates with the 44th overall pick in last year's draft.
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Pirates' Hunter Barco: Rehabbing in FCL
Rotowire
Barco (elbow) began a rehab assignment in the rookie-level Florida Complex League on July 20 and has turned in a 1.00 ERA, 0.67 WHIP and 12:2 K:BB across nine innings over his first three appearances.
Barco is technically on Triple-A Indianapolis' 60-day injured list, but once he's activated, he'll likely remain in the FCL or head to Single-A Bradenton. The 44th overall pick in the 2022 First-Year Player Draft, Barco didn't make his professional debut last season while he recovered from Tommy John surgery.
