Around the Curve | Khristian Curtis Overcomes Slow Start To Capitalize On High Potential

This story is part of the series 2026 Spring Break: Young Bucs Edition, a compilation of reports from Bradenton leading up to Opening Day.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Coming out of spring training in 2025, Pirates right-hander Khristian Curtis emerged as one of the most projectable arms in the minor league system. A 12th round draft selection by the Pirates in 2023, Curtis was finally healthy to begin the year and was excited to begin the journey through a full season of professional baseball in Greensboro. That is, until it started.

“It was awful,” Curtis shared in the major league clubhouse at LECOM Park in Bradenton, about the first month of his 2025 season. The numbers backed up his statement, 22 runs allowed across his first five starts of the season and an unseemly 11.48 ERA.

However, things turned as the calendar flipped to May with a pair of strong starts at Hub City and continued throughout the month, during which he allowed just 6 earned runs in five starts and recorded a 2.61 ERA.

“I learned to let go of what I can’t control. You never know what’s going to happen behind you in the field, nobody is trying to make an error behind you, but I was letting things like that dictate my mentality on the mound. I learned to flush things and let go of what happened,” Curtis shared about the turnaround in his season.

Curtis became one Greensboro’s most reliable arms in 2025, taking every turn in their rotation and turning in an 8-5 record and a 3.98 ERA with 116 strikeouts in 108.2 innings.

It gave the Pirates a glimpse of what they dreamed about with the Beaumont, Texas native. After a rocky college career that nearly ended as a sophomore as a result of a botched Tommy John surgery, Curtis could finally capitalize on his elite tools on the mound to build up his inning count to a typical starting load. Standing 6’5’’ with a trim 215 pound frame, Curtis has the prototypical size of a major league starting pitcher, and boasts a pair of excellent breaking balls, a high-90’s fastball, and an excellent cut-fastball.

It was the fastball that immediately jumped out when he made his Curve debut in the final week of the 2025 regular season. Curtis fired two scoreless innings in relief for the Curve on September 14 at Erie, just five days after dealing six strong innings in a tight 3-1 playoff loss for Greensboro. As Altoona reached the postseason, Curtis was the first man out of the bullpen following Antwone Kelly in Game Two of the Southwest Division Series, a 6-1 Altoona loss, and again fired two scoreless frames, working around a pair of walks.

“It was awesome,” Curtis said with a smile while reflecting on his playoff appearances for the Grasshoppers and Curve. “It was a first for me, I was sick as a dog in the Greensboro one, but battled through it. It just makes pitching more fun, when you're pitching with something on the line with so many people in the ballpark. It was really cool.”

It was those performances late in the season that gave Pittsburgh optimism about his ability to contribute to the major league club, and in turn, the Pirates invited him as a non-roster player to their major league spring training this year. An opportunity bestowed upon around 15-20 players per year that gives them exposure to the best players in the world and the chance to wear the uniform of the parent club.

“I’ve learned a lot about how to go about things here,” Curtis relayed about his time with the major league club this spring. “Being able to pick other guys’ brains and see what their routines are and just how strict they are with their routines has been valuable,” Curtis went on to say that the experience of actually playing in a major league spring training game was one he’ll always remember.

“It is different [from a regular game],” he said with a laugh about his first appearance for the Pirates this spring in late-February at Boston’s JetBlue Park. “My heart was pounding and I was spraying the ball all over the place and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I had to step off a couple times and just take a breath.”

Looking ahead to the 2026 season, there’s a strong chance Curtis will open the season as one of the top starters for the Curve, alongside returner Dominic Perachi and fellow Greensboro rotation-mates Connor Weitgrefe and Carlson Reed. With a taste of Double-A already in the pocket for Curtis, he figures to be in the conversation as one of the top arms in the Eastern League to begin the season and could be on track for a path to Pittsburgh where his elite fastball can be an option for the team in a potential playoff push in August and September.

“That’s my goal for this year, make it to Pittsburgh and help these guys win,” Curtis shared. To get there? It’s all about being on the mound and trust. “It’s about trusting my stuff, that it’s good enough to play there and I’ve got to have that mentality that there’s nothing stopping me and trusting that I can do it.”

Stay tuned to the Around the Curve blog all month for our 2026 Spring Break: Young Bucs Edition series, with Jon Mozes and Preston Shoemaker reporting from Bradenton.