For the 2025 MLB season, the Cincinnati Reds moved Graham Ashcraft to the bullpen. And for the most part, his results have improved.
The 6’2 right-hander had, when healthy, been a starter for the Reds for the three previous seasons, with mixed results. Notoriously streaky, Ashcraft would post a 17-20 record with a 4.91 ERA across those three seasons, interspersing excellent stretches with a severe home run problem that limited his effectiveness, as he could not go deep into games.
The move to the bullpen, though, came in conjunction with a change to his pitch mix. Armed with an excellent slider and good cutter with elite velocity, Ashcraft’s struggles as a starter came in large part due to his lack of a third pitch, which made it hard to go deep into games. Yet according to FanGraphs, in the 2025 MLB season, Ashcraft has not thrown his change-up or sinker at all, nor any four-seamers, relying exclusively on the two-pitch slider/cutter mix.
Move To The Bullpen Paying Dividends
As things stand so far, Baseball Savant reports a 54-46% usage split between Ashcraft’s cut fastball and slider, but also a significant difference in their efficacy. The slider dances its way to a mere .192 batting average against and a miniscule .260 slugging percentage against, alongside a 41.9% whiff rate and only a 28.6% hard hit rate. The cutter, meanwhile, yields a .328 batting average against and a .443 slugging percentage against.
Ashcraft’s cutter is thrown at an average of 97.1 miles per hour, something that would have been unheard of for a cutter a few years ago, and has an average amount of movement with decent control. Nonetheless, it has been distinctly the weaker of his two pitches across his career in the majors, not helped by looking a lot like his slider without as much sharp movement to it. Perhaps, as Ashcraft further refines his offering out of the bullpen, the usage rates can swing further the opposite way.
Nevertheless, by dropping the rest of his arsenal and greatly increasing the use of his slider, Ashcraft has already reinvented himself in the 2025 MLB season into a quality middle reliever, with greater consistency than he ever had as a starter, and without the limitations of going a third time through a line-up. And the results of those changes are evident.
In 53 appearances out of the Reds’ bullpen this season, Ashcraft has pitched to a 3.72 ERA, a mark that would be even lower were it not for a slightly unfortunate .345 batting average on balls in play. His home run problem has been cured, yielding only two on the season in 58.0 innings and getting plenty of soft contact, ranking in the 97th percentile for ground ball rate and the 94th for both barrel and hard hit percentages. And, for what it is worth in a middle reliever, he also has eight wins.
Ashcraft’s Future Role
Ashcraft’s extremely sharp slider and high-velocity cutter may see him make the move down the Reds’ bullpen to the set-up or closer roles in the future.
Although rookie Luis Mey has shown flashes of taking the closer role in the future with his cannon of an arm, he is some ways off of being the finished product, and after the May-time trade of former All-Star Alexis Diaz to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the role has been filled by veteran Emilio Pagan. Pagan has been good, but on account of his age along, he will not be here long.
Despite not working out as a starter, Ashcraft and the Reds have found another way. Two Major League quality pitches combined with good control to make for a solid bullpen arm, something baseball teams can never have enough of. The future is negotiable; whether Ashcraft moves towards the higher-leverage spots, becomes a swingman in the vein of someone like his current teammate Nick Martinez, or just stays where he is, remains to be seen. Nevertheless, while Ashcraft and the Reds may not have been able to develop a third pitch, they were able to develop his career.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post The Reinvention of the Reds’ Graham Ashcraft appeared first on Heavy Sports.