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.