PHILADELPHIA - The Pirates walked into All-Star Week with Paul Skenes back in the spotlight, but he’s not carrying the pitching banner alone.
Skenes and Braxton Ashcraft are both in the National League’s All-Star mix at Citizens Bank Park, giving Pittsburgh two starting pitchers in the game for the first time since 2023, when Mitch Keller and David Bednar were selected. It’s also the first time since 2015 that two Pirates starting pitchers have made the All-Star team, with A.J. Burnett and Gerrit Cole doing it then.
Skenes earned his spot outright. Ashcraft got the call as Skenes’ replacement. Neither will actually pitch for the NL - Skenes worked July 12 and Ashcraft on July 11 - but the moment still says plenty about where the Pirates’ rotation stands right now.
That group is built around Skenes, the 2025 NL Cy Young Award winner, and Ashcraft, who has turned his first season in the rotation into an All-Star-level breakout. The rest of the mix includes veteran Mitch Keller, rookie Bubba Chandler and Jared Jones, who is working his way back from a serious elbow injury.
Skenes knows the younger arms well, and he sees Chandler and Jones following the same path sooner rather than later.
“Yeah it’s not surprising," Skenes said about Ashcraft. "Just seeing how he works and goes about his business, how he thinks about the game.
Super deserving. I mean he’s pitched, he’s been an All-Star all year.
“It’s cool because he was one of the first guys I met when I got into Pro ball. I’m in Altoona, Pennsylvania and I was shut down and I was kind of just hanging out and he was one of the first guys I met at that time. I was on the same team as Bubba [Chandler] and now we’re on the same team, having success in the major leagues.
“It’s special. It’s special to see him do it.
It’s special to do it with him and it’s gonna continue. I think Bubba will be an All-Star at some point, Jared [Jones] will be an All-Star at some point.
So to be able to share the experience with them is cool.”
The numbers back up why the Pirates are dreaming big about this group.
Skenes hasn’t been quite as overpowering as he was across his first two seasons, but he still owns a 1.02 WHIP and a .216 batting average allowed. He’s also piled up 130 strikeouts, a 10.55 K/9, 1.99 BB/9 and a 5.42 K/BB, all of which sit among the top 5-15 marks in baseball this season.
Ashcraft has been even more eye-opening in some ways because of how quickly he’s settled in. In 19 starts, he’s gone 9-3 with a 3.43 ERA over 113.1 innings, struck out 128 while walking 27, and held hitters to a .235 batting average against with a 1.11 WHIP.
His 10.16 K/9, 2.14 BB/9 and 4.74 K/BB all show a pitcher already performing at a high level in his first full season in the rotation. He’s also logged 10 quality starts.
There’s still work to do around the edges. Keller has had a rough season, posting a 5.14 ERA, the fourth-highest in baseball. Chandler has also had his struggles, leading baseball with 55 walks.
Jones, meanwhile, is still under an innings restriction and pitch limit, but his latest outing hinted at the version of him the Pirates saw as a rookie in 2024. Against the Atlanta Braves at PNC Park on July 8, he threw six perfect innings.
The ingredients are there for Pittsburgh’s rotation to become something bigger. The challenge now is putting it all together.
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