This Pirates pitcher could be potential trade return if Rangers part with Josh Jung

Rarely in Major League Baseball do win-win trades ever pan out but thisswap between the Texas Rangers and Pittsburgh Pirates is beneficial to both parties.

The deal involves the Rangers trading their former first round pick and All-Star Josh Jung in exchange for a 24-year-old right-hander with sneaky stuff and ability to challenge for a rotation spot in Thomas Harrington.

Harrington has gone overlooked in pitching-heavy Pirates organizatiom

Harrington was a first-round pick in his own right back in 2022 out of Campbell University. He spent five years in the minor league before getting a small taste of big league action during the 2025 season.

Entering the year, the six-foot-two, 185 pound pitcher is ranked as Pittsburgh's 10th-best prospect and being a pitcher in an organization with Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and Bubba Chandler, Harrington seemingly has gone overlooked.

In 103 career games, Harrington has a 3.67 ERA with 544 strikeouts, 146 walks and a 1.16 WHIP in 340.2 innings of work. He features a five-pitch mix: fastball, curve, slider, cutter and splitter.

While his fastball only averages 92-93 mph, his pitch mix and ability to locate and fill up the strike zone gives Harrington "as high a floor as a future big league starter as anyone in the system as a result."

Why is trading Jung in best interest of Rangers?

Eventually it gets to a point where it's time to move on from player regardless of what they achieved in the past. Rangers' fans saw that this offseason with the team parting ways with Josh Sborz, Adolis Garcia, Jonah Heim and Marcus Semien.

Jung was the same level of production in 2023 as the other four mentioned, hitting .266 with 23 home runs, 70 RBIs and 25 doubles in 122 games, while playing elite level defense and finish top four in AL ROY voting. Since then he's seen a dip in numbers and the 2025 season was his worst, where he lost production and even experienced a demotion to Triple-A Round Rock.

Rangers also have a collection of infielders making their way through the minor league system, including their top prospect Sebastian Walcott. Gavin Fien, the team's top pick in 2025, and Josh Owens are also among the team's top 10 prospects with Yolfran Castillo lurking in the background as well.

If they were to trade Jung sometime before or during the 2026 season, Texas could use Josh Smith, Ezequiel Duran as a replacement in the meantime.

As for Pittsburgh's interest in Jung, he's a controllable piece through 2028 and presents as a good buy-low option for the Pirates to have options at the hot corner without making a big splash in a free agent like Eugenio Suarez.