STWF Sports | FRISCO, Texas | June 25, 2026 — Another former Frisco RoughRider has officially reached baseball’s biggest stage.
Left-handed pitcher Mitch Bratt made his Major League Baseball debut with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, June 24, starting against the St. Louis Cardinals. With the appearance, Bratt becomes the latest player connected to Frisco’s development pipeline to earn a spot on the Road to the Show wall, driven by Avondale Dealerships.
Bratt is the fourth former RoughRiders player in 2026 to reach the majors, joining Gavin Collyer, Peyton Gray and Robby Ahlstrom. His debut also brings the RoughRiders’ all-time total to 229 players who have gone on to play in Major League Baseball.
Mitch Bratt: A Rising Star in Major League Baseball
For Bratt, the moment marked the next step in a professional journey that has already included standout production in Double-A, a midseason trade and a rapid push toward the majors.
The 22-year-old handled his first big-league assignment with poise. Bratt allowed just two hits and one earned run across three innings in his start against St. Louis. He recorded his first career MLB strikeout in the opening inning against Jordan Walker and finished the outing with three strikeouts.
It was a strong first impression for a young pitcher who spent parts of two seasons developing with Frisco before being traded to Arizona during the 2025 deadline deal that sent veteran right-hander Merrill Kelly to Texas.
Before the trade, Bratt was one of the RoughRiders’ most consistent arms during the 2025 season. He posted a 3.18 ERA across 90.2 innings with Frisco, giving the club valuable length and swing-and-miss ability from the left side. His performance placed him among the top pitchers in the Texas League and helped establish him as one of the more polished arms in the Rangers’ system before the move to Arizona.
Strikeouts became one of Bratt’s calling cards. He paced all Texas League pitchers with 146 strikeouts during the 2025 season, with 104 of those coming during his time with the RoughRiders. That production earned him Texas League All-Star honors at the end of the season and strengthened his profile as a pitcher capable of missing bats at higher levels.
Bratt’s path to the majors began when the Texas Rangers selected him with the second pick of the fifth round in the 2021 MLB Draft out of Georgia Premier High School. A native of Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, Bratt entered professional baseball as a young arm with projection, pitchability and room to grow.
His development through the Rangers’ system included key innings in Frisco, where he faced the challenges of Double-A competition and turned in one of the strongest pitching seasons of his young career. Double-A is often considered one of the most important proving grounds for prospects, and Bratt’s success with the RoughRiders helped prepare him for the next level.
His trade to Arizona gave him a new organizational home, but his Frisco chapter remains a central part of his rise. The RoughRiders have long served as a major stop for future big leaguers, and Bratt’s debut adds another name to that history.
For Frisco, each major-league debut carries significance. It reflects the organization’s role in player development and gives fans a chance to track familiar names as they advance to the highest level of the sport. Bratt now joins a long list of former RoughRiders who used their time in North Texas as a step toward the majors.
His debut was not just a personal achievement. It was also another milestone for the RoughRiders’ franchise, which continues to see former players make an impact across Major League Baseball.
Bratt’s first outing with Arizona offered a glimpse of the same traits that made him effective in Frisco: command, competitiveness and the ability to finish hitters. With three strikeouts in three innings and limited damage allowed, he gave the Diamondbacks a solid opening look at what he can bring.
For the RoughRiders, Bratt’s debut adds one more success story to the Road to the Show. For Bratt, it marks the beginning of a new chapter at the highest level.
