Braxton Ashcraft is heading to his first All-Star Game after being added to the National League team on Tuesday as a replacement for Paul Skenes. The Pirates right-hander, 26, was dropped into the roster change just as the Midsummer Classic moved within days.
The timing matters because the All-Star Game is set for July 14 in Philadelphia, and roster changes this late usually trace back to workload. Skenes started on Tuesday and was in line to start again on Sunday, which made him unavailable for the game. In that same round of changes, Jesus Luzardo replaced Max Meyer and Riley O'Brien replaced Jacob Misiorowski, turning Tuesday into a full reset for part of the National League staff.
Ashcraft’s case is built on performance as much as timing. He is 9-3 with a 3.24 ERA this year, numbers that helped him get the call as a first-time All-Star. For the Pirates, it gives the club another name in the game and another sign of how far the pitching group has come this season.
The roster shuffle also exposed a sharper edge to the day. Willson Contreras was getting his own All-Star news from Craig Breslow while he was sleeping, and his first thought was not celebration but the seven-game suspension he is waiting to hear about on appeal. Breslow told him, “Congratulations... you made the All-Star team,” and the moment landed while Contreras was still sorting through what comes next.
That is part of what makes Tuesday different from a normal roster update. Contreras is hitting.921 OPS heading into Tuesday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox, he had four hits in a weekend sweep of the Angels with two home runs, and he will be making his fourth appearance in the Midsummer Classic. He also joins his brother William on the roster, with William going for the third time.
Contreras called the honor something that means a lot to him and his family, and that is probably the cleanest read on the day. Ashcraft gets the formal reward of a first All-Star nod, Skenes stays on his team’s regular turn, and the National League keeps adjusting around pitchers whose schedules made them unavailable. By July 14, the only thing left is whether the roster looks like the final shape of the game or the beginning of another late change.
