It’s been an offseason of changes for Braxton Ashcraft. He’s a married man now. His uniform number is no longer 67 but 35 (the TikTok “6-7” trend only had a little to do with the change).
And for the first time, he hasn’t been rehabbing this winter.
“I got the first healthy offseason maybe in my career,” Ashcraft said at PiratesFest on Saturday. “It was fun to get a body of work in throughout the offseason, and [I] felt like I was productive and growing the entire offseason as opposed to just trying to get healthy again."
Injuries were an all-too-familiar theme in Ashcraft’s journey to the Majors, but 2025 was a healthy and productive campaign that showcased his immense potential. In 26 outings (eight starts), he went 4-4 with a 2.71 ERA and 71 strikeouts over 69 2/3 innings, seemingly getting stronger as the season progressed.
The club evidently felt the same. Encouraged by how he was feeling and his pitch metrics, the Pirates let him throw more innings than they had previously projected. Ashcraft's health and those results would indicate that was the right decision, especially as he again will probably be projected to throw a new personal high for innings.
Pittsburgh made two notable trades this winter, thinning their rotation pool. Mike Burrows was dealt in the three-team trade that netted the Pirates Brandon Lowe, Jake Mangum and Mason Montgomery. Johan Oviedo was the main player who went to the Red Sox for a package of players headlined by Jhostynxon Garcia. The offense needed a boost, and the club trading from its starting-pitching depth was always the plan.
After landing 2025 All-Stars Lowe and Ryan O’Hearn, there is certainly plenty of internal buzz with the steps the club took this winter.
“I think all of us are really excited. I know I am,” Ashcraft said. “We have a really good opportunity this year to be ultracompetitive. I think that we’ve solidified ourselves across the board in the game [and] as one of the best rotations from top-to-bottom in the game. To be able to add some bats and to be able to add some power, I think it’s going to bode really well for us.”
Ashcraft is a big reason why the Pirates were comfortable trading pitching. Sure, they would still like to add to their pitching staff (a left-handed starter would be preferable), but Ashcraft is projected to be alongside Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller and Bubba Chandler.
That’s what makes Ashcraft's healthy offseason so important. It's not just that he could be in a position to go more innings in 2026, but also because he could focus on different parts of his game with new pitching coach Bill Murphy and continue to develop.
“When you go through rehabs, you don’t ever get away from that mindset,” Ashcraft said. “I haven’t, because to me, if you’re not healthy and you’re doing everything to get healthy, why wouldn’t you continue to do those things that got you healthy?
“For me, it’s how can I take care of my body best, and taking things from all the different rehabs that I’ve done. Applying them to my everyday routine has been really helpful. Being able to kind of lock down, getting a consistent feel on the changeup and more consistent movement profile on the two-seam, and being able to get my slider down into the glove. Little things like that and getting the ball consistently to where I want it to go and the movement profile is a big deal, but that’s pitching.”
Seeing what Ashcraft’s next level is is an exciting proposition, one of the big reasons why the Pirates brought in Murphy this winter. That doesn’t take away from what Ashcraft accomplished as a rookie, though, and last season, he achieved the dream he’s had since he was in T-ball: to pitch in the Majors.
“It’s a really surreal deal, and it’s cool to be able to have that success that I did have last year,” Ashcraft said. “Just use it a little bit as being able to take the good and the bad, learn from it and be better this year.”