At long last, the #1 pitching prospect in baseball is going to the big leagues. Bubba Chandler, who has been held in high regard around baseball and the Pirates organization as having potential similar to the likes of former Pirate Gerrit Cole and current NL Cy Young frontrunner Paul Skenes, will be used in a bulk role out of the bullpen and will have the opportunity to start games for the Pirates to finish out the season as well, according to Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
For months, the big question among fans has been when, not if Chandler would be in a Pirates uniform in 2025. But the Pirates starting pitching depth has been pretty deep, and hasn’t been the main issue of this disastrous season.
Chandler was rolling through Triple-A in April and May, posting a 2.03 ERA through his first eleven starts. Had the Pirates been competing, he may have gotten the call much sooner. But after a 12-26 start and the firing of former Manager Derek Shelton, the season was all but over by the beginning of May, and there was no sense in rushing Chandler up and wasting his service time.
Making sure Chandler continued to develop in Triple-A may have been the right call this year, even if the Pirates had been competing. After all, he’s only 22 years old, and unless you’re Paul Skenes, you’re bound to hit a roadblock as a young pro. In June, Chandler had an 8.54 ERA and has been below average in July and August.
As a result, his 4.05 ERA and 1.48 WHIP through 100 innings this season are not necessarily inspiring despite 121 strikeouts. But now is a good time to see if Chandler’s pedestrian numbers this season actually make him not MLB-ready yet. After all, with Chandler’s elite stuff, he could easily flip the switch and make the case to be in the rotation to start next year.
But he will have to earn his way to potentially get a few starting opportunities to end this season in a long relief role first. A combination of Chandler’s inefficiency and the organization monitoring the amount of innings he throws has resulted in only three starts this year where he has pitched 6+ innings.
It’s important to note that the Pirates timing of the call-up definitely means they are trying to get as much of a look at him as possible while keeping his rookie status for 2026. With the call-up happening after August 15, he will be a rookie next year if he pitches fewer than 50 big league innings.