Pirates Braxton Ashcraft off to strong start in rookie season

I mean, anyone is better than Colin Holderman.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have had a slew of young pitchers rise through the ranks in their Minor League system over the past couple of seasons. One of the newest arms is having quite the rookie season to this point, as Braxton Ashcraft time and time again has performed at a high level for the Buccos.

Ashcraft was drafted by the Pirates in the second round of the 2018 MLB Draft. He was only just called up in 2025 because of some injury history, including surgery on his non-throwing shoulder in 2019, and then Tommy John surgery shutting him down early for 2021 and all of 2022. Still though he’s shown to be a more than capable arm through all of those setbacks. At 6’5” the team selected a very athletic pitcher with an incredible knack for control as a young player.

The Pirates recalled Ashcraft from Triple-A Indianapolis on May 26, and since that call-up, he’s been one of the best relievers for Pittsburgh. So far, he’s appeared in eight games, throwing across 14 innings, and has an ERA of 1.23 with 12 strikeouts. He currently has the lowest ERA of anyone in the bullpen.

But wasn’t Ashcraft drafted to be a starting pitcher? Yes, indeed he was, but the organization indicated that with his injury history, they’d like to ease him into the big leagues and keep an eye on his durability. That doesn’t mean he can’t make the occasional start though.

Manager Don Kelly opted to have Ashcraft start Monday’s contest against the Brewers, as it was all relief pitchers all night giving the starters some more rest. Though he only pitched three innings in his first start, he didn’t allow any runs to score and only let up one hit with no walks. He would get two strikeouts, and impressively, out of the 35 total pitches he threw, 28 of them were called strikes, showing off impeccable command from the mound.

Don Kelly had this to say about Ashcraft’s performance post game.

“The efficiency got him three [innings]. He wanted four,” Kelly said. “But he did more than we could’ve asked coming into today. He was outstanding.”

Ashcraft himself was pleased with the performance and was more than happy to make the start for the Buccos.

“Getting the opportunity that I’ve wanted for a long time to start a game, and help our rotation out,” Ashcraft said. “It’s cool to do it and cool to go out and buy myself an extra inning. But, yeah, just being able to go out and cover … three scoreless, it’s fun.”

The possibility of having Ashcraft in the starting rotation long term is an exciting possibility, especially considering how he’s handling his Major League career so far. For now, he’s relegated to the bullpen, but he has made quick work of this opportunity and is looking like a polished veteran reliever.