3 Pirates pitching prospects who became more important after Jared Jones' injury

The Pittsburgh Pirates will, unfortunately, be without Jared Jones for the first few months of the 2025 season. Jones was a key piece of the Pirates’ 2024 rotation, and given the sort of talent he displayed, missing him for any extended period of time hurts the Pirates’ rotation. Luckily, they have some depth to back it up - and enough to cover Jones until he is healthy once again.

The best prospect everyone is looking forward to seeing is Bubba Chandler. He’s a top-10 prospect in baseball, per Baseball America, and in the top 15, according to MLB Pipeline. Thomas Harrington, another consensus top 100 pitching prospect, is also highly anticipated. Both could make their MLB debut around the time Paul Skenes did last year in early May. They’re two of the best pitching prospects in baseball, but many other arms in the Pirates’ system just became more important alongside them as well.

3 most Pirates important pitching prospects (other than Bubba Chandler) after Jared Jones injury

3. Braxton Ashcraft

Braxton Ashcraft’s last two seasons have been promising. After being drafted in the second round of the 2018 draft, Ashcraft did not pitch in 2020 due to the canceled minor league season. He only made 10 starts and pitched 38.2 innings in 2021 before injuries began cropping up, and ultimately underwent Tommy John surgery. 

Ashcraft was outstanding in 2023, albeit in only 52.2 innings of work, but he followed that up with a 2024 season where he pitched to a 2.84 ERA, 2.92 FIP, and 1.07 WHIP across 73.2 innings between Altoona and Indianapolis. Ashcraft struck out just over a quarter of his opponents, with a 25.8% K%, and held them to a HR/9 ratio of 0.74.

Ashcraft has also displayed an elite ability to limit walks. In 2023, he only handed out a free pass to 5.3% of batters faced, but cut that down even further to just 4% last season. His free pass percentage was the eighth-lowest among minor league pitchers with at least 70 IP in 2024, and he was one of only 23 pitchers with both an ERA and FIP under 3.00 and a K%-BB% of 20% or greater.

Although Ashcraft has peripherals similar to those of fellow top pitching prospect Thomas Harrington, he has much more heat to his four-seam fastball. Ashcraft sits 95-96 MPH, topping out at 98. This is also how hard he was throwing in his recent spring training sample size. Baseball America grades his fastball as an above-average pitch, but both his low-80s curveball and upper-80s slider project as plus offerings. Both were also effective at Triple-A last season, inducing a whiff rate of 35.3% and 45.1%, respectively. Ashcraft will occasionally mix in an upper-80s changeup, and while it had a 44.4% whiff rate at Indy, he used it less than 10% of the time, making it a fringe offering at best. Still, with his outstanding control, having one above-average and two plus pitches makes him an intriguing arm.

Ashcraft’s biggest concern is durability. After missing nearly all of three seasons, the Pirates have severely limited Ashcraft’s workload the last two years. Still, he could be one of the first names the Pirates call upon if they need another pitcher who can start games. He is already on the 40-man roster, giving him an inside track on a rotation spot early in the year if they need his services.