Pirates pitcher Braxton Ashcraft stays in zone, with focus on stuff over results against Rays

BRADENTON, Fla. — Braxton Ashcraft has learned not to dwell on the negative, so the Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher was focused on how his pitches felt more so than the results of his first spring training outing.

Yet Ashcraft couldn’t hide his displeasure that he allowed two runs on four hits in 1 2/3 innings in a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays before 5,151 Friday afternoon in a Grapefruit League game at LECOM Park.

“I haven’t seen any of the reports, but I feel like I was in the zone pretty good,” said Ashcraft, who threw strikes on 25 of 33 pitches. “Sometimes, the problem can be you’re in the zone too much, too good in the zone late in counts.”

The Rays made Ashcraft pay when he replaced Colin Holderman for the sixth inning. Curtis Mead led off with a single to right field. Richie Palacios lined out to left but Jonny DeLuca singled to left. After Taylor Walls hit a comebacker to advance both runners, Tres Barrera hit a jam-shot two-run single, and Jamie Westbrook followed with a single on a swinging bunt.

“If he’s out of the zone …,” Shelton said, describing Ashcraft’s bad luck. “Overall, he was on the plate, and that’s the most important thing. And I thought the stuff played well.”

That was the big takeaway for Ashcraft. A look beyond the numbers shows why the 6-foot-5, 220-pound right-hander is ranked the Pirates’ No. 4 prospect by Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. After having his first scheduled appearance rained out Monday, Ashcraft was forced to throw another live batting practice. So he was pitching for the first time against an opponent wearing different colors and with fans in the stands.

Ashcraft averaged 96.4 mph on 16 four-seam fastballs, which generated 10 swings, three whiffs, three called strikes and three fouls. He also mixed in 11 sliders, three curveballs and three changeups, including one at the top of zone that got Matthew Etzel swinging to end the sixth.

In the seventh, Ashcraft got 21-year-old Junior Caminero — a top-five prospect in 2024 — to lead off with a groundout to third. Ashcraft then followed an 88.3-mph slider by blowing a 99-mph heater past Bob Seymour for a strikeout before being pulled with two outs.

“I was excited to get in there and throw against hitters and compete. That’s why I play this game, pretty much to compete,” Ashcraft said. “Getting it underway and starting to see other colors in the box, it makes this game fun again. Not that it wasn’t before, but you take all offseason and kind of forget what that feels. The first one, getting through it and being healthy and not necessarily having the worst results in the world, there’s stuff to take away from it.”

One of the takeaways is that Ashcraft is healthy. A 2018 second-round pick, his professional career has been sidetracked by injuries ranging from a non-throwing shoulder dislocation that required surgery in 2019 to Tommy John surgery that limited him to 10 starts in 2021.

Ashcraft shined at three levels in 2023, finishing at Double-A Altoona and earning a spot on the 40-man roster, then went a combined 3-2 with a 2.84 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 77 strikeouts against 12 walks in 16 games (14 starts) between Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis last season.

“With the injuries and stuff, you can dwell on them and keep them in the back of your mind or you can move on from them,” Ashcraft said. “Just do your job. For me, in the past, I’ve found myself celebrating the little wins, in terms of, ‘Oh, I feel good,’ as opposed to taking the good with the bad and learning from outings and just progressing as a baseball pitcher. So I don’t really try to focus on the injuries in the past.”

Ashcraft is well aware that his health could be the difference in making it to the majors with the Pirates this season. Although scouts see him as someone with stuff that could play in the back end of the bullpen, Ashcraft is determined to be a starting pitcher.

“I don’t think that thought process is solitary this year. It’s been my goal since I got drafted in ‘18 to be a major league baseball player,” Ashcraft said. “So I don’t think that has changed hardly at all since then. But, this year, yes, it is a little bit more real. There is an easier path than it was whenever I was 18. I’m knocking on the door.”

Notes: Pirates starter Mitch Keller tossed three scoreless innings and hasn’t allowed a run in five innings over two starts. Right fielder Bryan Reynolds went 2 for 3 and is 4 for 9 in three games. Left fielder Tommy Pham walked twice and scored a run and has three walks in nine plate appearances. Outfielder Ji Hwan Bae has hit safely in each of his first three games. … Paul Skenes is scheduled to make his first start of spring training against Cade Povich when the Pirates visit the Baltimore Orioles at 1:05 p.m. Saturday at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota.