Pirates prospect Braxton Ashcraft shines in big-league debut

Braxton Ashcraft appeared as a reliever only twice in 71 career minor-league appearances.

But upon being called up to the Pittsburgh Pirates from Triple-A Indianapolis on Monday, manager Don Kelly indicated Ashcraft would begin his time with the big-league club out of the bullpen.

As it turned out Monday, the Pirates were in need of length from the bullpen after starter Andrew Heaney lasted only five innings.

So Kelly called on the 25-year-old Ashcraft, who had approximately 20 family members and friends present at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Though his most recent professional relief appearance came July 6 of last year with the Indians, Ashcraft was sharp out of the bullpen in the Pirates’ 5-0 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Ashcraft, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Pirates’ No. 7 overall prospect, delivered three scoreless innings, allowing two hits while walking and striking out one.

“He did a great job coming in,” Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “Major League debut, you’re obviously going to have the excitement and the jitters. He did an unbelievable job mixing in his off-speed really well.

“That slider is a swing-and-miss pitch. He showed that, was able to go to the curveball, as well, when he needed it and use the fastball for effectiveness tonight. He ran it up there at 98-99 (mph) there, a couple times.”

Facing Tim Tawa as his first big-league opponent, Ashcraft needed only four pitches to retire him, posting his first MLB strikeout by getting Tawa to miss on a 91 mph slider.

Braxton Ashcraft's first career strikeout is a beauty

90.9 MPH cutter, 2603 RPM, 4 IVB, 29 inVB, 3 inHB pic.twitter.com/mw5mjfRZDJ

— Platinum Ke’Bryan (@PlatinumKey13) May 27, 2025

Ashcraft then got Geraldo Perdomo to ground out before walking Ketel Marte.

From there, Corbin Carroll grounded out, ending Ashcraft’s first frame in the major leagues.

In the seventh, Ashcraft allowed a leadoff single to Lourdes Gurriel, but recovered, getting three groundouts in a row to avert any damage.

Then, in the eighth, Ashcraft again bounced back after allowing a leadoff single, this time to Gabriel Moreno.

Tawa hit into a force out, before Perdomo and Marte flew out to end the inning.

Ashcraft threw 50 pitches, including 32 for strikes.

Per Statcast, he threw 24 sliders, 13 fastballs, 10 curveballs, two sinkers and one changeup.

Braxton Ashcraft in his MLB Debut:

3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO
50 pitches, 32 strikes, 4 whiffs

He has a 0.00 ERA. pic.twitter.com/CQkpcKSNXU

— Platinum Ke’Bryan (@PlatinumKey13) May 27, 2025

“It’s always exciting to take the next step in your career,” Ashcraft said of his first MLB outing. “Obviously, I want to win. But taking that step in my career, becoming a big-leaguer, having success on the mound — the most important thing for me today was making sure I stayed within myself and understanding it’s the same game.

“There’s a lot more people in the stands and it means a lot more, but it’s the same game. Just trying to keep that perspective.”

As Kelly noted postgame, Ashcraft’s heater touched 99 mph Monday — 99.2, to be exact.

Arizona’s batters compiled a .182 batting average against him.

Ashcraft, evaluated by Baseball America to possess the best curveball and slider in the Pirates’ farm system, was pleased with the utilization of his off-speed pitches.

The slider was Ashcraft’s most-thrown pitch (48%) Monday, followed by his fastball (26%) and curveball (20%).

“It’s a hard place to spin the ball and that’s what I do really well,” Ashcraft said. “It was encouraging to see the progression from what I’ve been working on the past couple of weeks at Triple-A, coming here, keeping the slider down, driving curveballs down in the bottom of the zone and throwing quality fastballs.”

Ashcraft admitted with a smile to some jitters being behind his first MLB pitch, a fastball that sailed high past catcher Joey Bart.

But aside from battling a brief spell of nervousness, Ashcraft resolved to be as business-like on the hill as possible, avoiding any urges to look up at his family in the stands or soak in the moment before his task was complete.

At the time of his call-up, Ashcraft had gone 3-3 with a 5.03 ERA over 10 starts and 48 ⅓ innings with the Indians, striking out 56 with 19 walks.

Those numbers were a jump up from what he produced in 2024 (3-2, 2.84 ERA split between Double-A Altoona and Triple-A), while in 2023, his first season back after recovering from Tommy John surgery two years prior, Ashcraft posted a 2.39 ERA in 19 minor-league starts.

For now, Ashcraft’s role will be in a relief capacity, something for which he has no qualms.

“I’m just out here to do my job,” Ashcraft said. “We had conversations in spring training on what my role would be this year, and I’ve been saying that I would do anything to help this team win. If I can put together outings like that consecutively in situations that are tight games to give our team a chance to win, that’s the most important thing.

“That’s what our job is as pitchers — stop runs and get outs. As long as I do that, that’s the biggest thing (regardless of) coming out of the bullpen or starting.”