One of the strengths for the Pittsburgh Pirates to start the season has been their starting rotation, and right-handed pitcher Braxton Ashcraft is a big reason because of that.
In his most recent start for the Pirates, he threw seven innings and 94 pitches, both career-highs, while only allowing two earned runs against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field on April 22, earning an 8-4 victory.
Ashcraft is in his first full season as a starting pitcher at the major league level and he’s done incredibly well so far for the Bucs.
He has a 1-1 record in five starts, a 2.43 ERA over 29.2 innings pitched, 32 strikeouts to nine walks, a .202 batting average allowed and a 1.01 WHIP.
His strikeouts are tied for 15th in baseball, with his BAA 25th in baseball and his WHIP ranks 33rd as well.
The 26-year-old started the season with a little walk problem after walking four batters in his season debut on March 30th but in his four starts in April he only walked five batters.
He also just gave up his first home run of the season against the Rangers, but soon settled in and got some ground balls and went the longest he has in his major league career.
This is massive news for Pittsburgh because of the fact that Ashcraft is the fourth pitcher in their rotation. The fact that the Buccos are getting that contribution from someone pretty far in the depth chart is massive. It shows how deep the Pirates starting rotation actually is, which is important because of the shaky start from the bullpen.
The Pirates have a lot of faith in the young pitcher as well, with no real pitching limits. Ashcraft has had some injury problems in the past dating from his minor league days in triple-A. His 29.2 innings pitched lead the Pirates and are tied for 19th-most in baseball.
Pirates fans knew that Paul Skenes was going to do his thing and that they were going to get solid outings out of Mitch Keller and Bubba Chandler, so the fact they are also getting serious production out of Ashcraft is massive. Ashcraft has been one of the biggest surprises for the Pirates to start the season and if he can continue to pitch like this, the Pittsburgh starting rotation would be in a great place.