Pirates Pitching Prospect Among Offseason Trade Candidates
How the Pittsburgh Pirates go about improving their offense ahead of a make-or-break campaign in 2025 is among the team's most pressing questions this offseason.
Given the Pirates' reluctance to spend money in free agency, it's more likely than not that a big move will have to come through a trade. Who Pittsburgh would be willing to move will be pivotal in deciding the caliber of bat they could potentially acquire.
Bleacher Report's Zachary D. Rymer listed one player each team is most likely to trade at some point this offseason. For the Pirates, he named right-handed pitching prospect Braxton Ashcraft.
"The injury-prone, yet talented Braxton Ashcraft is in that sweet spot of not being Paul Skenes, Jared Jones or Bubba Chandler, but still placing within MLB.com's top 100," Rymer wrote. "He's thus an ideal centerpiece for the kind of trade the Bucs should be looking to make."
Ashcraft is the Pirates' No. 4 overall prospect and ranked No. 85 in all of baseball by MLB Pipeline. He was 3-2 with a 2.84 ERA in 16 appearances (14 starts) across Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis this season while striking out 77 batters over 73 innings.
Along with listing Ashcraft, Rymer also made the case for keeping him and letting him reach the majors alongside the Pirates' surplus of arms.
"As nice as trading Ashcraft for a hitter sounds, does it really sound nicer than him being in the same rotation as Skenes, Jones, Chandler and Mitch Keller?" Rymer wrote. "With a group like that, the Pirates could look to be the Seattle Mariners of the National League."
Rymer listed the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Guardians as potential fits for the hard-throwing right-handed prospect.
For Baltimore, Rymer listed first baseman Ryan Mountcastle as the player they'd most likely trade and had the Pirates as a potential fit for the 27-year-old right-handed bat.
Given the amount of quality arms Pittsburgh has throughout its minor league system, it'd likely be in the franchise's best interest to use one or multiple of them to land a quality hitter. If Ashcraft for Mountcastle ever becomes a deal that's on the table, it should be one that both franchises strongly consider.
