Pittsburgh Pirates' top rookie got seriously snubbed in Rookie of the Year voting

Awards season has started off with a whimper for the Pittsburgh Pirates. On Nov. 10, Major League Baseball announced this year's BBWAA Rookie of the Year winners for the American League and National League, with Pennsylvania native and Athletics slugger Nick Kurtz taking it home for the AL, and Atlanta Braves rookie backstop Drake Baldwin winning it for the NL. The complete balloting from all 30 individual voters (both American and National Leagues) can be found on the BBWAA website, which shows that the experts left out Pittsburgh Pirates' rookie pitcher Braxton Ashcraft entirely. Ashcraft not receiving even a single fifth-place vote is a serious snub, and he's someone who should have been on at least one well-educated ballot.

Ashcraft finished off his rookie season with a 2.71 ERA, 2.78 FIP, and 1.25 WHIP over 69.2 innings of work. He struck out just under a quarter of his opponents with a 24.2% K%, and carried a respectable 8.2% walk rate. Ashcraft did very well in limiting home runs and hard contact, with an 0.39 HR/9 ratio, 4.6% barrel rate (94th percentile), and 88 MPH exit velocity (top 80th percentile). Ashcraft worked out of both the rotation and bullpen, with 26 total appearances and eight starts. Most of his starts came during the second half of the season.

Fellow Rum Bunter writer Ethan Fisher recentlyput into perspective how impressive Ashcraft's rookie season was. Only eight rookies have ever had a FIP of 2.80 or better, a K/9 of at least 9.0 (Ashcraft clocked in at 9.17 K/9) while making at least eight starts and tossing 65+ frames. This list of eight pitchers includes some of the most impressive rookie seasons of all time, like Paul Skenes and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in 2024, Jacob deGrom in 2014, José Fernández in 2013, Stephen Strasburg in 2010, Dwight Gooden in 1984, and José DeLéon (in Pittsburgh) in 1983.

A dozen rookies received ROY votes, with Ashcraft being more deserving than a handful of them, including young flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski of the Milwaukee Brewers. The right-hander pitched a very similar amount of innings as Ashcraft, with 66 frames under his belt, while only posting a 4.36 ERA, 3.62 FIP, and 1.24 WHIP. Misiorowski may have been better at striking batters out than Ashcraft, with a 31.9% K%, but was much worse at limiting walks (11.4% BB%) and home runs (1.09 HR/9). He received a fourth-place vote and clearly rode the name recognition of his first few weeks to the honor.

Pirates' Braxton Ashcraft doesn't receive a single Rookie of the Year vote, making him a massive snub.

Another rookie that didn't deserve a vote over Ashcraft was Jack Dreyer of the LA Dodgers. Dreyer pitched 76.2 innings with a 2.95 ERA, 2.82 FIP, and 1.05 WHIP. He had very similar peripherals to Ashcraft as well, with a 24.1% K% and 7.8% walk rate, as well as an 0.47 HR/9 ratio. Dreyer also worked as both a starter and reliever, with five starts over 67 total appearances. He may have begun the year in the major leagues, unlike Ashcraft who was promoted in late May, but the results and total playing time were similar. Dreyer received both a third-place and a fifth-place vote.

The Miami Marlins saw catcher Agustin Ramirez receive votes, and he had just a .701 OPS, .302 wOBA, and 91 wRC+ in 585 plate appearances. Ramirez struggled badly with defense, with -14 defensive runs saved and -28 blocking runs above average, all while splitting his time between catcher and DH. He finished sixth in voting, with six fifth-place votes and two fourth-place votes. New York Mets pitcher Nolan McLean was great, with a 2.08 ERA, 2.97 FIP, and 1.04 WHIP, but even though he received NL ROY votes, he is still a prospect and is still eligible to win the award next year. He only pitched 48 innings, receiving two somewhat inexplicable fifth-place votes, given that he can still earn the honor next season.

This sort of treatment from voters wasn't completely unprecedented. In a poll from September where 41 supposed experts voted on who they thought would win the Rookie of the Year award for each league, Ashcraft's name wasn't brought up once. Interestingly, though, fellow Pirates rookie Mike Burrows was mentioned among the names. However, that doesn't make Ashcraft's lack of inclusion excusable.

This isn't all to say that Braxton Ashcraft was truly the best rookie in the National League, because he wasn't. However, him not being included on any of the 30 ballots, which featured five votes each for first through fifth place, makes this a huge snub. Ashcraft was easily one of the top rookie pitchers in baseball this year, and has a great case of being a top-five rookie in the NL, and maybe even all of baseball this past season.