MLB snubbing Pirates rookie feels like a bad omen for awards season

The Pittsburgh Pirates took home their second Rookie of the Year award in the franchise’s history when Paul Skenes won it last season. The Pirates’ best rookie this year, pitcher Braxton Ashcraft, has put on a remarkable first showing in the Major Leagues this season. However, MLB isn’t giving him the sort of recognition he deserves, and their most recent ROTY poll sets a bad precedent for when award season rolls around.

According to their poll, which 41 supposed experts voted on, they currently have Athletics’ standout slugger Nick Kurtz and Atlanta Braves’ new backstop Drake Baldwin taking home the award in their respective leagues. Chicago Cubs’ rookie right-hander Cade Horton, Milwaukee Brewers’ newcomers Isaac Collins and Caleb Durbin, and Miami Marlins’ backstop Agustin Ramirez ranked two-through-five in prospective National League voting.

Ten other NL rookies also got votes, but not a single one went to Braxton Ashcraft, who is more than deserving of at least one vote, let alone enough to put him among the top five. Ashcraft has tossed 55.2 innings in his first big league season, working to a 2.44 ERA, 2.58 FIP, and 1.19 WHIP. Ashcraft’s 22.7% K% and 8.3% walk rate are only about league average, but he has allowed just one home run all season. Opponents can’t seem to figure Ashcraft out. He has held opposing hitters to just an 87.4 MPH exit velocity (top 89th percentile) and 3.2% barrel rate (top 99th percentile), with a 52.9% ground ball rate (top 89th percentile).

When the Pirates first promoted Ashcraft this year, he was used as a long reliever. However,he is now dominating as a starting pitcher. His last five outings have all come out of the Pirates’ rotation. He has only allowed three earned runs, with 24 Ks and just seven free passes in his last 22 innings of work. He is definitely setting himself up for a rotation spot in 2026.

Supposed 'experts' don't see Pirates' Braxton Ashcraft as a potential Rookie of the Year winner.

So far this season, only three rookie pitchers have a sub-3.00 ERA and FIP in at least 50 innings pitched. They are Ashcraft, LA Dodgers’ reliever Jack Dreyer (who also got votes), and St. Louis Cardinals’ right-hander Matt Svanson, who also got snubbed. Svanson’s 214 ERA+ is the only mark among all rookie pitchers with 50+ IP across all MLB that is higher than Ashcraft’s 177 clip.

Pirates fans should be scratching their heads when looking at who got votes instead of Ashcraft. Agustin Ramirez ranked fifth in votes and has shown flashes of potential, but he has only a .697 OPS and 89 wRC+. He also has -12 defensive runs saved, with just a 7.2% caught stealing rate, and leads the league in passed balls with 15, despite splitting his time between the backstop and designated hitter. 

Most of the rest of the field also hasn’t performed to Ashcraft’s standards so far, and hasn't racked up nearly the same amount of playing time, either. Jacob Misiorowski has pitched about the same number of innings as Ashcraft with worse results, except in the strikeout department. Chase Burns has less than 50 innings pitched with an ERA over 5.00. Nolan McLean has been outstanding, but has tossed just 31.2 innings. Even fellow Pirates rookie Mike Burrows got a vote, despite generally performing worse than Ashcraft.

This isn’t all to say that Braxton Ashcraft should be a frontrunner for National League Rookie of the Year or won’t receive any votes by the writers, but for him to not receive a single vote from supposed experts is wild, to say the least. Ashcraft has been one of the best rookie pitchers in the sport this year and isn’t getting any of the attention he deserves. It definitely seems like he may fall much further than a pitcher with his sort of numbers would normally, just based on this poll.