Braxton Ashcraft

Ashcraft made his big-league debut in late May and spent most of his time as a multi-inning reliever. He effectively limited runs, though his 97 mph fastball didn't immediately translate into a particularly impressive strikeout rate. However, Ashcraft's work across his final nine outings of the campaign - a stretch when he worked at least 4.0 innings five times - gives both the Pirates and fantasy managers reason to believe in his future as an impact starter. In that span, Ashcraft posted a 43:12 K:BB across 36.1 innings while also maintaining a 2.23 ERA and 1.13 WHIP. His pitch characteristics back up his small sample of success, as Ashcraft boasts three above-average pitches (sinker, slider, curveball) that he threw at least 20 percent of the time in his big-league debut. He can use his sinker to induce groundballs (50.3 percent groundball rate) early in the count, while his slider is his primary pitch to generate whiffs. The two major concerns for Ashcraft are his control, he ran walk rates north of 8.0 percent in both Triple-A and the majors last season, and his ability to work through opposing lineups multiple times after being handled very carefully by the Pirates in 2025. Pittsburgh dealt away some of its pitching depth early in the offseason, likely setting up Ashcraft with his most significant opportunity in the big leagues to begin 2026 and he could step forward to join Paul Skenes and Bubba Chandler as a fixture in the Pirates' future. Read Past Outlooks