Braxton Ashcraft had his best start of the season on Wednesday for Altoona. The right-hander pitched five shutout innings, allowing two hits, two walks, and striking out five.
Ashcraft is one of the top ten prospects in the Pirates’ system, due to a fastball that can sit mid-to-upper 90s, and a hard slider that is an out pitch. He’s been hit around this season, with four homers allowed in the month of April, and a 5.33 ERA on the season.
The results for Ashcraft have started to improve this month. In his last start, he wasn’t hit around as much, but was a victim of poor defense. He did pitch six innings. This time around, he was unhittable and while he had two walks, that doubled his total from the first five starts.
Ashcraft is in his first full season back from Tommy John, so I would expect the results to continue to improve as he gets back into the starting routine. The Pirates are giving him work as a starter, but Ashcraft could reach the majors this year if he just focused on the fastball/slider as a reliever.
PIRATES PROSPECT WATCH
INDIANAPOLIS lost 4-3.
- LHP Cam Alldred pitched five innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on four hits, with no walks and five strikeouts.
- CF-2B Ji Hwan Bae went 2-for-4 with a walk.
- C Henry Davis went 1-for-3 with a walk.
- DH Jake Lamb went 1-for-5 with a double.
- SS Liover Peguero went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
ALTOONA won 3-0, led by Braxton Ashcraft.
- LHP Dominic Perachi closed out the shutout with four scoreless frames, allowing one hit, two walks, and striking out four.
- CF Jase Bowen went 2-for-4 with a double.
- LF Tres Gonzales went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
- 1B Jackson Glenn went 2-for-4.
- SS Tsung-Che Cheng went 1-for-4.
GREENSBORO was postponed.
BRADENTON won 3-2.
- SS Keiner Delgado went 1-for-4 with a home run.
- LF-1B Eddy Rodriguez went 2-for-4.
- 1B-C Omar Alfonzo went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
- RHP Antwone Kelly allowed two runs on four hits in five innings, with a walk and six strikeouts.
- 3B Javier Rivas went 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base.
FCL PIRATES were off.
STATCAST HEROES
Liover Peguero was unlucky with a 106.3 MPH lineout that traveled 404 feet. STATS
Omar Alfonzo had two hits in excess of 100 MPH, with one single registering at 109.1 MPH, and the other at 101.7 MPH. STATS
THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE
- Triple-A: Indianapolis, 6:35 PM – TBD
- Double-A: Altoona, 12:05 PM – RHP Po-Yu Chen (0-2, 6.30)
- High-A: Greensboro, 6:35 PM – RHP Wilber Dotel (1-1, 4.74)
- High-A: Greensboro, Game Two – TBD
- Single-A: Bradenton, 6:30 PM – RHP Carlson Reed (1-1, 1.31)
- Rookie: FCL Pirates, 12:00 PM – TBD
