Hey, you, reading this. Who is the Pittsburgh Pirates’ best starter? Paul Skenes, yeah? That’s an easy one. But, who’s the Pirates’ second-best starter? Well, if you read the title of this post, you probably have an inkling… it’s Braxton Ashcraft.
The 26-year-old Texan was taken 51st overall in the 2018 MLB Draft. Despite a series of serious injuries (meniscus, Tommy John Surgery) as he developed in the minors, he made his MLB debut last year in a swing role, and seriously impressed in a manner commensurate
with his draft pedigree and top prospect status: a 63 ERA-, 68 FIP-, and 86 xFIP- in 69 2/3 innings spanning eight starts and 18 relief appearances, good for 1.6 fWAR.
Fully ascended to the rotation in 2026, Ashcraft has nearly rivaled Skenes in effectiveness so far. He’s made 12 starts, lasted 74 2/3 innings, and already has 2.0 fWAR with a 66/74/76 line. For the record, Skenes is at 74/64/71 this year (2.2 fWAR in 13 starts), so… that’s quite a one-two punch they’re packing in Pittsburgh these days.
How does Ashcraft do it? Well, mostly how you’d expect. He throws really hard (97 mph average on his heater) and has almost-excellent command. The only pitch that has notable inconsistency in mechanics is his curve, but when you’re fending off a 97 mph four-seamer and a 91 mph slider-cutter thing, it gets harder to punish an 85 mph curve that works more like a traditional slider with a bunch more depth, even if Ashcraft mostly tends to throw it in the zone. Does he have any weaknesses? Lefties tend to do okay against him when they’re not swinging through that curve, so the Braves’ best bet might be for Michael Harris II and company to guess a fastball or slider/cutter and let loose.
Ashcraft is also coming off a pretty dominant outing against the Twins with an 11/0 K/BB ratio in six innings, so… good luck, Braves!
On the flip side, the Braves will hand the ball to a once-dominant phenom who is still figuring out what his career will look like going forward. Spencer Strider comes into the game with a 91/116/93 line in 31 innings (six starts). The run prevention results for him and his defense are above-average, and his pitching’s been in that range as well… but boy, those homers. Strider started his season with just one longball against him in his first three starts, but then the Marlins hit three off him, and the Red Sox tagged him for two first-inning dingers in Boston. He rebounded with a very nice outing against the Reds (8/2 K/BB ratio, his best start of the year in six tries so far)… except that Ronald Acuña Jr. concentrated a series of defensive flubs in right field into the same game, and things didn’t go quite so great for the Braves in a loss — their first defeat in a Strider start this year.
Will the Braves win the set this afternoon, or will they need to rely on a rubber game victory to do so? Stay tuned and find out.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Saturday, June 6, 4:10 p.m. EDT
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
TV: BravesVision
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan, La Mejor 1600/1460/1130 AM
