The Pirates selected the contract of Khristian Curtis from Triple-A Indianapolis on July 18, 2026, giving them another arm before a doubleheader with the Guardians. To make room, Oneil Cruz was moved to the 60-day injured list, while Wilber Dotel was activated for the twin bill as the 27th man.
It was a move built for the day as much as the week. Pittsburgh was facing a stretch of 17 games in as many days before its next off-day on August 10, with the August 3 trade deadline right in the middle of that run, and the club was looking for help in a bullpen that has been its biggest weakness.
Curtis, 24, was taken in the 12th round of the 2023 draft and has climbed into the conversation as one of the more closely watched arms in the system. Baseball America had him fifth in Pittsburgh's farm system, while MLB Pipeline put him 21st, a sign that the stuff has drawn attention even if the results have been uneven.
His fastball sits in the mid-90s and his cutter has missed plenty of bats, but the command has not always matched the raw material. Across 74 1/3 combined innings in Double-A and Triple-A this year, Curtis posted a 12.3% walk rate and a 29.8% strikeout rate, with a 4.73 ERA in 53 1/3 innings at Double-A Altoona and a 5.57 ERA in 21 innings for Indianapolis.
That mix helps explain why the call-up feels more like a bullpen play than a tidy promotion of a starter. Sixteen of his 18 appearances this season came in starting roles, yet his most recent Triple-A outing was as a multi-inning reliever, which leaves some room for the Pirates to use him wherever the innings are needed most.
Dotel's return gives Pittsburgh another option after a right lat strain kept him out for a little over a month, and his 5.89 ERA in 18 1/3 innings since his big league debut on April 19 shows why the club still needs depth. Cruz's shift to the 60-day injured list opened the 40-man roster spot for Curtis, but it did not alter Cruz's recovery path, and the roster shuffle points to a team trying to survive the calendar as much as the standings. Curtis will make his MLB debut whenever he first gets into a game, and the Pirates may need him to do more than simply stand by for the doubleheader.
