He Pittsburgh Pirates The starting rotation has easily been the team’s strongest point this year. Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, and Mitch Keller have formed a formidable trio and arguably the best starting trio in baseball. Bailey Falter has been better than anyone expected. While injuries have made the fifth spot in the rotation a bit more unstable, with the Pirates rotating starters and utilizing bullpen games, there is no doubt that the Pirates’ rotation is one of the best in baseball.
Given that Martin Perez has struggled mightily in his last outing (and the fact that he’s a rental player), it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Pirates could send him to the bullpen, especially with some of the talent on the 40-man roster. They have plenty of pitchers in place who have a very real chance of ending up as Pirates starters by the end of this season, let alone before the All-Star break.
Braxton Ashcraft He could join the Pirates’ rotation right now. now If they wanted to. He’s on the 40-man roster, is already 24 years old, was recently promoted to Triple-A and has continued his excellent season after being called up. There’s a small chance Ashcraft makes his debut before the All-Star break. He could be a great addition to the Pirates’ rotation down the road.
So far this year, Ashcraft has pitched 69 innings between Altoona and Indy, posting a 3.00 ERA, 3.06 FIP and 1.07 WHIP. He has a quality strikeout rate of 25.8% and a 0.78 HR/9, but has been one of the better pitchers at limiting walks. He has a 4.3% walk rate, the 14th lowest among any minor league pitcher who has started at least ten games.
Ashcraft regularly reaches between 94 and 96 MPH with his fastball and can sustain above-average velocity late in the game. Both his slider and curveball are above-average pitches. He also mixes in a changeup from time to time. Over the past two years, his control has gotten better and better, and walks have almost never been an issue. He’s had just one outing since the start of 2023 in which he’s allowed at least three walks, and he’s never allowed four in a game.
The question that remains is whether the Pirates will use Ashcraft as a starter or reliever when called upon. I have no doubt they view him as a long-term starting pitcher, but he has already set a career-high in innings pitched as a professional pitcher. May of this year represented the first time he pitched at least six innings in a game since 2019. Regardless, there is still a chance he sees some major league starts in the second half of the season.