Fox Sports handed Pirates fans another reason to feel overlooked.
Pittsburgh already had a real complaint about the 2026 MLB All-Star selections, but Rowan Kavner’s Fox Sports piece on the snubs added an extra layer of irritation when it identified the Pirates’ top first-half performers incorrectly. Kavner’s article noted that Brandon Lowe and Bryan Reynolds both had strong cases, with Lowe leading all National League second basemen in home runs, RBI and slugging percentage, while Reynolds ranked fourth among qualified NL players in on-base percentage.
Then came the line that set off Pirates fans.
“Based on first-half performances, you could argue that Lowe, Reynolds and Graham Ashcraft were the Pirates’ most deserving All-Stars,” Kavner wrote.
The problem was simple: it was Braxton Ashcraft, not Graham Ashcraft. Graham Ashcraft is a Cincinnati Reds reliever on the 60-day injured list with a right UCL sprain. Braxton Ashcraft, meanwhile, has been putting together one of the best first halves of any Pirates pitcher in recent memory.
That kind of mistake is exactly the sort of thing Pittsburgh fans latch onto. When a player is performing at Braxton Ashcraft’s level and still gets misnamed in a national All-Star snubs story, it only feeds the feeling that the Pirates’ best players are being missed.
Ashcraft backed up his case again Saturday against the Washington Nationals, throwing 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball and striking out seven. He now owns a 3.24 ERA, a mark topped by only 10 qualified National League pitchers, and his 10 quality starts are bettered by only six NL arms.
Braxton Ashcraft's Day: 5.2 IP, 6 H, R, ER, 2 BB, 7 K 🔥🔥
Plus a standing ovation from Buccos fans 👏 pic.twitter.com/Ty0FFVVOVz
- SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) July 4, 2026
The numbers keep piling up. Ashcraft has 122 strikeouts this season, trailing only the Milwaukee Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski and the Philadelphia Phillies’ Cristopher Sánchez.
FanGraphs pegs him at 2.9 wins above replacement, and among National League pitchers, only Misiorowski and Sánchez have more fWAR. Ashcraft is tied with Jesús Luzardo and Chase Burns in that category.
Paul Skenes making the NL All-Star team makes sense. Even through a tougher stretch, he remains one of the game’s premier talents and one of MLB’s biggest draws. There’s also a wrinkle here: Skenes is scheduled to start next Sunday in the final game before the break, which would rule him out of pitching in the All-Star Game and require a replacement on the National League roster.
The Pirates have more than one player with a legitimate argument. Lowe and Reynolds deserve to be in the discussion.
Braxton Ashcraft does too. And after Fox Sports got his name wrong, the push to get him to the All-Star Game only got louder.
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