Pirates 2nd-round pick Braxton Ashcraft caught 37 TDs as H.S. senior
Just by glancing at Braxton Ashcraft's statistics as a two-sport standout at Robinson (Texas) High School, it's difficult to determine whether his best sport is football or baseball.
The Pirates drafted Ashcraft, 6-foot-5, 195 pounds, in the second round Monday night (No. 51 overall) as a right-handed power pitcher who can reach 95 mph with his fastball. He was 11-1 with 103 strikeouts in 70 1⁄3 innings this season, and he's already committed to Baylor for baseball.
“In my living room, as a little kid, my dream was to be like Stephen Strasburg and Clayton Kershaw,” Ashcraft told the Waco Tribune-Herald. “Those were the guys I looked up to. To see that dream in front of me is great, but to a degree it's kind of overwhelming when you think your dreams could actually come true.”
“You see the athleticism and arm speed just keeps coming,” said Joe Dellicarri, the Pirates' senior director of amateur scouting
But Ashcraft also is one of the most productive wide receivers in Texas high school football history, with 104 receptions for 2,090 yards and 37 touchdowns last season. That followed a junior season when he had 92 catches for 1,937 yards and 34 touchdowns. His seven touchdown receptions in the 2016 opener rank second in state history.
He has been timed in the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds.
