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Yesterday’s Report: Pirates Play Badly in Every Phase of Game in Ninth Straight Loss
Today’s Action:The Pirates Take Their Losing Streak to Miami
In today’s report, John Dreker breaks down last night’s Double-A debut from right-handed pitcher Braxton Ashcraft. I looked at Jase Bowen and Maikol Escotto, who each homered for Greensboro last night.
JOHN DREKER: Braxton Ashcraft, RHP, Altoona (AA)
Braxton Ashcraft is making quite an impression this year after missing a lot of time in his young career. He was a second round pick out of high school in 2018, standing in at 6’5″, with a huge frame that started filling out quickly. His stats never really impressed coming up through the system. He had a high ERA and a mediocre strikeout rate during his rookie season in the Gulf Coast League and in his second year with short-season Morgantown of the New York-Penn League. He didn’t pitch during the lost 2020 minor league season, then got a late start with High-A Greensboro in 2021. He missed a few weeks mid-season, with what ended up being the start of his downfall.
Ashcraft was pitching his best in May of 2021. He struggled in a June start, then missed three weeks. He was not the same when he came back, and we soon saw why he was struggling. He got hit hard on July 21st, then had Tommy John surgery. The timing of the surgery cost him the entire 2022 season, as he did rehab work during that time. He went 21 months between appearances. You would expect some rust due to that time-span, but he looked better than at any point when he made his first start of 2023.
Ashcraft had limited innings before the injury. It was a ton of missed time when you include the 2020 season being wiped away. The Pirates brought him in slowly this year. He looked strong from the start, hitting mid-90s with his fastball, while filling the strike zone during his brief stint in Bradenton. He needed just two starts before getting bumped back to Greensboro. His stay there lasted all of nine starts. He threw 26.1 innings, posting a 3.76 ERA, a 1.29 WHIP and 29 strikeouts during that time.
That performance led to him being promoted to Altoona in time for his first start on Wednesday evening. He went three innings, allowing an unearned run on two hits, no walks and four strikeouts. It looked a lot like the Bradenton outing I saw, except him mixed in his breaking pitches more often. The velocity was the same (consistently 95 MPH), while the control on all of his pitches was strong, with 31 strikes on 44 pitches. The Pirates are going to continue monitoring his innings all season. He’s going to eclipse his 2021 innings soon, then set a personal high when he surpasses his 53 innings from 2019, so don’t expect him to pile up innings in the second half. It’s a big year for him, as he will be Rule 5 eligible (again) this winter.
TIM WILLIAMS: Jase Bowen, OF, Greensboro (A+)
Jase Bowen has been hitting the ball well this month. After hitting his 13th home run of the season last night, Bowen has a .266/.360/.484 line during the month of June. That includes four homers, a 22.7% strikeout rate, and a 10.7% walk rate. This is a big improvement from Bowen, who struggled in the first two months of the season.
Prior to June, Bowen was hitting for power, with a .224 ISO and nine home runs on the year. He wasn’t hitting for much else, with a .237 average and a 30.1% strikeout rate. He also wasn’t getting on base, with a 6% walk rate. The fact his power is staying around with reduced strikeouts and increased walks is a very positive step. Bowen took a similar step forward in the second half last year with Bradenton. In the month of July, he put things together for a .905 OPS, with reduced strikeouts and an increased walk rate. His isolated power was once again over .200.
The Pirates had Bowen working at first, second, third, and all three outfield spots last year. His primary infield position has been second base, but he’s dropped that this year. He is playing first base, where his power potential could work. Most of his time this year has been in the outfield, with center field being the spot where he’s seen the most innings. Bowen is an interesting guy to follow as an athletic player who can play all over the field and hit for power.
TIM WILLIAMS: Maikol Escotto, SS, Greensboro (A+)
One of the best raw power hitters in the system is Maikol Escotto, acquired as one of four players in the Jameson Taillon deal. Escotto brings the power, but his strikeout rates and contact skills have been alarming. Last year, he had a .164/.228/.342 line in High-A Greensboro, complete with a 36.3% strikeout rate. He’s improved on that last mark this year, cutting his strikeouts to 24.5%.
The problem for Escotto is that his walk rate hasn’t budged from 5.6%, and his in-game power doesn’t match the raw abilities. He’s only in his age 21 season, after celebrating his birthday at the start of this month. Escotto is still to the point where any blip of positive performance will draw attention.
That happened in the last two nights, when Escotto hit his fourth and then fifth home runs of the year. He also added a double and two hits in his game on Sunday. It’s a three game stretch where he’s 5-for-10 with a double and two homers. Unfortunately, the strikeouts are still there. He had three in this small stretch of games, and has a 31.9% rate this month. This is perhaps one of the best looks at what “raw talent” looks like. Escotto has been a solid hitter in five games this month. There have been eight games where he’s only drawn one walk in 29 plate appearances. He’s looking great in about 38% of games this month, which is obviously not a good percentage. The key going forward will be figuring out how to reduce the large amount of games where he goes 0-for with multiple strikeouts. In this small, three week sample, he would need to improve roughly a game a week to go from his current status to a power hitting middle infielder to get excited about.
Prospect Watch Archives
6/21: Termarr Johnson, Connor Scott, Enmanuel Terrero
6/20: Cal Mitchell, Travis MacGregor, Alessandro Ercolani
6/19: Henry Davis, Bubba Chandler, Julian Bosnic
6/18: Jared Jones, Matt Gorski, Tony Blanco Jr.
6/17: Liover Peguero, Dominic Perachi, Carlos Mateo
6/16: Kyle Nicolas, Anthony Solometo, Jack Brannigan
6/15: Shalin Polanco, Abrahan Gutierrez, Will Matthiessen
The Prospect Watch runs every day at noon, featuring three players from the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system.
