Pirates right-hander Ryan Harbin has been designated for assignment, per a club announcement. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to veteran reliever Chris Devenski, whose previously reported promotion to the major league roster is now official. Lefty Hunter Barco was optioned to Triple-A to open a 26-man roster spot for Devenski.
Harbin, 24, was the Pirates’ 17th-round pick back in 2019. The Bucs added him to the 40-man roster this past November in order to protect him from being selected by another organization in December’s Rule 5 Draft. He was rocked in his first taste of Triple-A last summer but had pitched 50 combined innings between High-A and Double-A prior to that, logging a 2.88 ERA with a massive 36% strikeout rate.
The 6’4″, 228-pound Harbin relies primarily on a three-pitch mix: a four-seamer that averaged 97.2 mph last year, a slider that sat 87 mph and a sinker that averaged 96.7 mph. He also mixed in a very occasional cutter (87.8 mph) and splitter (89.8 mph), though his usage rate on both pitches in Triple-A sat just north of 5%.
With a good start to the season in Triple-A, Harbin might have gotten his first big league look this year. Instead, injuries have derailed his season. Harbin suffered a strained teres major during spring training not long after being optioned to minor league camp. The Bucs put him on the 60-day injured list in the minors. He hasn’t pitched yet in 2026, and there’s no clear timetable for his return to the mound. Injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers, so now that he’s been designated for assignment, Harbin will either be traded to another club or released.
Weird the Pirates added 3 relievers to their 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft, traded one (Tyler Samaniego), then DFA’d another in Harbin. Guess that’s just the life of a depth reliever.
Eat up 4 2/3 inning and save the bullpen. Your reward…..
I mean, he saved the bullpen by giving up 5 runs and ultimately letting the game get out of reach. I wouldn’t say that demands a hero’s reward.
Ramirez was available, it was Kelly who allowed the game to get out of hand by keeping Barco after he walked 2 consecutive batters
The Pirates had a chance to come back but not after Barco had given up 3 runs
Yeah, but Ramirez was like the only other guy avaiable after Ashcraft’s breavement list stint forced a bullpen game.
That bullpen game screwed them for the entire week