This is one in a series of stories breaking down PBN’s Top 30 Pittsburgh Pirates prospects.
Not many Pirates’ debuts were more anticipated than Bubba Chandler’s.
Chandler entered the season as the top pitching prospect in baseball, making it two straight years in which the top minor-league arm belonged to the Pirates following Paul Skenes in 2024.
The Pirates originally drafted Chandler in third round of the 2021 draft and pried him away from playing baseball and football at Clemson with a substantial over-slot deal of $3 million.
Originally a two-way player, Chandler focused solely on pitching after the 2022 season and proved to be a budding star with good results, an electrifying fastball and a well-rounded arsenal.
Chandler entered spring training with an outside shot to crack the Opening Day roster, but the Pirates sent the 23-year-old to Triple-A Indianapolis to begin the season.
It was an excellent start to the season for Chandler, who posted a 1.53 ERA through five starts in April and followed that with a 2.54 ERA across six May starts.
Chandler looked destined to make his MLB debut early in the season for the Pirates, but the young right-hander hit a rough patch in the summer months.
Control issues started to arise in May before coming extremely prevalent in June, leading to an 8.53 ERA in five starts during the month. Chandler totaled just 12.2 innings across those five starts and walked 12 batters while opponents hit .309 against him.
Chandler’s shakiness continued into the next couple months, but the Pirates saw enough improvement to finally call him up to Pittsburgh on Aug. 22. Chandler tossed four-shutout innings in his MLB debut against the Colorado Rockies in a 9-0 Pirates’ win that day. In covering the final four frames, Chandler notched his first-career save.
In his very next outing, Chandler again pitched four-scoreless innings and was the winning pitcher in a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Chandler allowed a combined 12 runs in 6.2 innings over his next two appearances, but finished the year strong with a 1.08 ERA over his last three outings of the season — all of which were starts.
Though the Pirates initially used Chandler out of the bullpen — partly to monitor his innings and also to ease him into the big leagues for the first time — he should be a main piece of the starting rotation in 2026.
Chandler is viewed as someone who could potentially be a front-of-the-rotation pitcher and could give the Pirates an excellent one-two punch with Cy Young winner Paul Skenes.
With Skenes, Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft, Mike Burrows, Hunter Barco and the pending return of the injured Jared Jones, the Pirates have no shortage of exciting young arms to make up their starting rotation.
Heading into next season, Chandler looks to be one of the favorites to win National League Rookie of the Year. He might’ve been the favorite had it not been for the top guy on our list, but more on him tomorrow.
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