Pirates Pitching Prospect Thriving After Surgeries
Pittsburgh Pirates right-handed pitching prospect Khristian Curtis regained his form from his first outing in the Arizona Fall League, pitching four shutout innings and allowing just one walk and a hit while striking out two batters.
The fact that he's even still able to pitch is somewhat of a miracle, though.
Long before he was drafted by the Pirates in the 12th round of the 2023 MLB Draft, and worked his way to becoming the team's No. 27 ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, Curtis needed ulnar transportation surgery in his freshman year at Texas A&M. After one of his nerves ended up on one of the stitches from his first surgery, he needed another lengthy operation to get the issue resolved.
The second surgery put his baseball future in doubt, but after transferring to Arizona State and working his way back onto the mound, he was drafted by the Pirates in 2023 and has impressed in two of his four outings in the AFL.
“I'm still regaining feeling in my right hand -- it's starting to come back a lot more than it was when I first woke up from surgery,” Curtis told MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo. “But it's a process. They told me, ‘What you have now might be all you get when you come back.' They say the nerve heals a millimeter a day, so it's still a work in progress, but just trusting that it's going to all come back normal. I feel great now, haven't had any pain, just excited to be back.”
Curtis sat down the first eight batters he faced before he allowed his only hit of the game and walked the ensuing batter to put runners on first and second with two outs in the top of the third inning. The 6-foot-5 right-hander escaped the jam by inducing a flyout then sat the side down in order in his final inning of work in the Scottsdale Scorpions' 3-1 loss to the Salt River Rafters.
“I was just keeping things simple,” Curtis said. “I know last week got to me pretty good, just things out of my control that happened, and so just being able to flush it, move on, trust in my ability, and thanking God for being able each week to go back out there and play.”
The Pirates pitching prospect also had a strong performance in his first outing of the AFL, pitching three shutout innings without allowing a runner to reach back and he struck out two batters.
In his first season in the minor leagues, Curtis went 2-3 across 18 appearances, including 16 starts at Single-A Bradenton and he also notched one save. He struck out 81 batters in 75.1 innings pitched and held opponents to a .227 batting average.
