Knowing that there's a spot up for grabs within the Pirates' starting rotation, Hunter Barco is approaching every outing with a competitive mindset. 

He's vying for a major-league opportunity that guys like Carmen Mlodzinski, José Urquidy, Thomas Harrington and Mike Clevinger seem to be in the mix for this spring, and Barco feels better equipped to compete after adding to his arsenal this winter. 

"That’s definitely the goal, to go out and win a job," said Barco, who threw three scoreless innings in the Pirates' 6-1 win over the Cardinals here today at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. "The biggest thing this spring is, I basically doubled my arsenal since last season, so just getting reps with all the new pitches. Joey (Bart) did a great job back there today, calling everything in the right spots and trying to figure out what goes where. The main focus is going to win a job.” 

A pitcher who has relied heavily on a four-seam fastball, slider and splitter in the past, Barco added a sinker, changeup and sweeper over the offseason. The goal is to use the sinker and sweeper to better attack left-handed hitters. The changeup comes into play as a pitch that can get guys off the fastball. 

On this day, Barco tinkered with his new pitches on a few occasions to get a better feel for them, while still leaning heavily on a fastball (28 of 44 pitches) that generated seven whiffs and a slider (8 times) that hitters swung and missed at three times. He didn't allow a hit, walked two and struck out three in his first career spring start.

"Really it’s just finding the right times to throw it, the right hand placement and just trying not to place them," Barco said of the new additions. "Just trusting everything and throwing it.”