Braxton Ashcraft Shining Among Stars at High-A Greensboro

After struggling during the early parts of his career, Braxton Ashcraft is having a breakout year on the mound so far in High-A Greensboro. He has simplified his preparation and is pitching his way into the Pirate's future plans.

When you look at the Greensboro Grasshoppers starting rotation, you will see a lot of names that are getting ready to factor into the Pittsburgh Pirates' future plans. Guys like Quinn Priester, Carmen Mlodzinski, and Tahnaj Thomas are all out to good starts and are featured when you hear about the next wave of Pirates prospects. However, one guy you don't hear much about is a 21-year-old right-hander named Braxton Ashcraft. Ashcraft was taken in the second round, 51st pick overall, by the Pirates in the 2018 MLB draft, and struggled during his first two years of pro ball. He posted ERA's of 4.58 and 5.77 respectively in 2018 and 2019 and was looking for a way to improve. He found it during the pandemic, when he was training at home and simplifying his approach.

He learned the importance of a good bullpen session and focused more on his preparation prior to starts. It was just a little change to his routine, but it has ended up making a big difference. Through his first five starts in High-A Ball, Ashcraft has gone 1-0 with a 3.54 ERA over his first 20.1 innings of work. Of the three aforementioned players, only one has a lower ERA than Ashcraft, Carmen Mlodzinski, and he has worked in two fewer games. Better control and a heightened strikeout rate have led Ashcraft to this early season success and is showing the Pirates that he belongs in High-A ball, and in the team's future. Today, we look at Ashcraft's first five high-a starts and see what has been working for the 21-year-old to make him so successful.

Simplifying His Approach

When Ashcraft went back to his hometown of Waco, Texas, he didn't have access to the same training that he did with the Pirates. He was forced to find fields to throw on every day and relied on video conferences with High-A Bradenton's pitching coach. Through these sessions, the two men worked on Ashcraft's arsenal and he decided to drop his slider and his current and focus on a four-pitch mix of the fastball, two and four-seam, curveball, and change-up. Simplifying his arsenal and perfecting his work ethic are just two of the things that got Ashcraft promoted to High-A ball to start the season. He made his debut with the Greensboro Grasshoppers on May 6th against the Hickory Crawdads and did not disappoint.

After not throwing in a full year, and having reconstructive surgery on his left shoulder at the end of 2019, Ashcraft threw three innings, allowing one hit, while walking one and striking out three. Ashcraft wasn't as efficient as you would like to see, with 42 pitches in three innings, but he did do a good job at staying in the strike zone, with a strike rate of 64.3%. He just kept building on that success as the season went on, and allowed just one earned run in each of his next two starts and worked his way up to five innings by start three. The big question was how Ashcraft's velocity would look, and even in the fifth inning of his third start, his fastball was still hitting in the mid-90s. 

He ended May with another impressive start against the Wilmington Blue Rocks, allowing one run over 4.1 while striking out three. For the month, Ashcraft was sitting at a 1-0 record with a cool 1.65 ERA over his first 16.1 innings of work. Then, he ran into his first adversity of the season in his first start of June when he faced the Winston-Salem Dash. After rolling through four innings of one-run ball, the wheels came off the track a little in the fifth. It started with a hit by pitch, and things snowballed from there. Ashcraft did not give up an extra-base hit in the inning, but the Dash tagged him for four runs in the inning and came back from being down 4-1 to take a 5-4 lead. The Grasshoppers bailed out their starter tying the game later, but it was a game of adversity for Ashcraft and shot his ERA up to 3.54 on the season. The best thing about a bad start is you can show your toughness the next time out, and Ashcraft will be looking to bounce back in that next outing.

Rethinking His Game

For Ashcraft, the change in his arsenal is not the only change he has made that has made him successful this season. He is pounding the strike zone more than he ever has before, and it has led to a high strikeout rate. So far, in his first 20+ innings of work this season, he has struck out 21 batters and walked just five. He has struck out almost 30% of the batters he has faced this season, thanks in large part to the implementation of his two-seam fastball. While his four-seamer normally comes in straight, the two-seamer offers nice cut action that his previous cutter was not showing. It also sinks down in the zone, which has the hitter swinging over the top of the ball as it disappears down in the zone. When the fastball is consistently hitting in the mid-90s, it can be hard to pick up on that movement, and that is what Ashcraft lives off of.

Helping out with the heightened strikeout numbers is the fact that Ashcraft is consistently able to stay in the strike zone. In his first start of the season, he threw 64% strikes, and has stayed right around that number for the entire season with a strike percentage of just over 65%. However, with being in the strike zone so much comes one of the major problems that Ashcraft has faced this year, the home run ball. Ashcraft has been tagged for four home runs already in five games, but luckily for him all four of those home runs have been solo shots. What helps is the fact that he doesn't give up a lot of free bases, so he isn't facing nearly as much traffic on the base paths. Because of this, he can afford to give up a home run from time to time, because it won't be a backbreaker.

After his first month of the season, Ashcraft is one of the biggest breakout prospects for the Pirates this season. While guys like Priester have put up rather disappointing numbers for their status in the organization, Ashcraft is showing that he may be worth a little more than the Pirates thought. Every year, we see prospects that are lower on the Pirates radar work their way to the top, and that is exactly what Ashcraft is trying to do this season. He is still proving he can pitch after undergoing surgery on his non-throwing shoulder two years ago, and his simplified approach has seemed to pay off. Only time will tell if Ashcraft can continue to be consistently good throughout the year, but as of right now he is doing what he needs to do to help the Grasshoppers win games this season.

The Pittsburgh Pirates (21-34) look to start the weekend off with a win when they play game two of their four-game series with the Miami Marlins (24-31) tonight at 7:05 pm. Mitch Keller (3-6, 6.54) takes the hill for the Pirates against Cody Poteet (2-1, 2.95) for the Marlins. You can watch the game live on AT&T Sportsnet, listen on 93.7 The Fan, or follow along with us on Twitter by following @Buccos_Cove.