Pirates’ Garrett McMillan Adjusts Arsenal On Way To Double-A
Righthander Garrett McMillan began his pro career as a reliever after he was drafted in the 14th round in 2023 out of Alabama.
In the Low-A Bradenton bullpen is where he began his first full season 2024. McMillan was having a solid but unspectacular season until things clicked for him during an end-of-the-season promotion to High-A Greensboro.
The 24-year-old McMillan made the shift back to the rotation full-time in 2025 and quickly pitched his way to Double-A Altoona. In six starts before his promotion, he posted a 1.55 ERA with 29 strikeouts and three walks in 29 innings for the Grasshoppers.
“I like to just use all my pitches pretty evenly,” McMillan said of his success this season, which began with five shutout innings in his Altoona debut.
“Attacking hitters regardless of what the count is or what situation I’m in. Just throw my best stuff up there and just hope for the best outcome.”
With the new season came a slight adjustment to McMillan’s four-pitch mix.
“We added the cutter,” he said. “We kind of had a slider more last year. (Now) working on a shorter, harder pitch. So added that to the arsenal and it played really well so far.”
The cutter is now one of his four pitches he throws, the other three being a fastball, curveball and changeup.
“(My slider) was kind of morphing with my curveball, looking like kind of the same pitch,” McMillan said of the switch. “We were really trying to separate the two pitches. One goes straight down, and one straight to the side.”
While McMillan doesn’t have overpowering stuff, he mixes his pitches, throws strikes and has some strong pitch characteristics, making him another name to watch in the Pirates’ deep stable of pitching prospects.
