Pirates promote unexpected top prospect instead of Bubba Chandler

As the Pirates' offense is finally starting to come around, they once again decided to bolster their pitching staff by promoting another top prospect. Braxton Ashcraft is on his way to Arizona to join the team, but the corresponding move is unknown for now, according to Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

That means he will possibly be on the taxi squad until they need him. While Ashcraft has a ton of potential, promoting him over Bubba Chandler is still the wrong decision.

The only thing keeping Chandler in Triple-A is his ability to win the Rookie of the Year award, and the Pirates do not want to lose a year of service on him in accordance with that honor. In fact, he just flirted with a no-hitter in his latest start, taking it to the seventh inning. That lowered his ERA to 2.27 on the year with a 1.07 WHIP and a 12.57 K/9. He should be in this rotation right now, but instead, Ashcraft will likely be joining the squad.

Braxton Ashcraft is joining the Pirates in Arizona, but Bubba Chandler isn't.

Ashcraft has started all year for Indianapolis, so it is difficult to see them placing him in the bullpen, even though that's where he should be, given his health history. There do not appear to be injuries in the rotation, so maybe the Bucs will decide to roll with a six-man rotation for a little bit. They already replaced Carmen Mlodzinski with Mike Burrows in the rotation.

Paul Skenes is set to make his sixth start of the month on Wednesday, but he has never had that many starts in a month in his career. Putting Ashcraft in between that start would push Skenes' next start to Friday against the Padres, putting six days of rest in between his last start against the Brewers and his next start. If that is the case, the Pirates are trying their best to preserve his arm in an era where injuries to pitchers are quite common. Chandler or not, protecting a pitcher like that is a very smart decision, regardless of who it is.

Ashcraft got off to a poor start, but is starting to settle in this month. In May, Ashcraft has put together a 4.09 ERA with a 1.05 WHIP and 29 strikeouts. Even though the ERA seems high, he has been much more effective this month, completing six innings in three out of his four starts.

MLB Pipeline has him ranked as the seventh-best prospect in the organization. Even if he starts on the taxi squad, it does seem like he should join the team and debut this week. The corresponding move is questionable, and with all starters healthy, a reliever will either be optioned or placed on the injured list. David Bednar, Isaac Mattson, and Chase Shugart are the only ones with minor-league options remaining, so the injured list feels more likely, in this case.

If that plan to conserve Skenes' arm is correct, the corresponding move will not happen until Ashcraft's start day. That could happen on Tuesday to push Burrows to a start with five days' rest, and would have Ashcraft pitching on the same amount of days in between his last start. The Pirates are definitely excited to see what their highly ranked prospect can do on the big stage, but the organization is still waiting on the even more anticipated start of Chandler.