The Cincinnati Reds are off to a tough start in 2023.
The team is tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for the bottom spot in the NL Central.
However, right-hander Graham Ashcraft, who got the start for the Reds on Wednesday, was pitching for someone special.
Sadly, Ashcraft recently lost his grandmother, and is pitched in her honor.
The young right-hander said that he wanted to stay in Cincinnati to make his start against the Texas Rangers because that is what she would have wanted him to do.
On Twitter, the Reds posted a video of Ashcraft trotting out to the mound and inscribing his grandmother’s initials into the mound after pointing to the sky to salute her.
Graham Ashcraft is pitching in honor of his grandma, Theresa Ann, who passed away on Monday ❤️ pic.twitter.com/wROnpLpuOd
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) April 26, 2023
Interestingly, Ashcraft changed his warmup song to “Watching You” by country music star Rodney Atkins.
It was a song his grandmother would play when she thought of him.
Another interesting piece of information is that Ashcraft’s grandmother was a fan of the Rangers growing up.
Ashcraft today made his start against the Rangers.
We often see athletes pay tribute to their fallen friends and family members after their deaths.
A perfect example of this was when Jack Flaherty inscribed Tyler Skaggs’ initials on the mound at T-Mobile Park before his start against the Seattle Mariners, which came a day after Skaggs had tragically passed away.
Today, Ashcraft paid his own tribute to his grandmother, taking the mound for the Reds and saluting her by inscribing her initials into the mound before the game’s first pitch.
NEXT:
MLB Insider Provides Details Of Hunter Greene’s New Contract
