Bubba Chandler is showing advanced maturity for a 21-year-old starter with two professional seasons under his belt.
Last year, Chandler went home and took a 12-day break from baseball, following a rough start to his season with Greensboro. The break allowed him to reset, with a focus down the stretch to give people something to talk about from his performance.
He did just that. Chandler made nine more starts following that break, combining for a 1.66 ERA in 48.2 innings, with 51 strikeouts and 13 walks. That included a start at the end of the year in Double-A Altoona, where he threw five shutout innings, allowing one hit, no walks, and striking out eight.
“The second part of the season kind of flew by, I put my head down, and when I looked up, I was in Double-A,” recalled Chandler. “I was pitching well, and patted myself on the back a little bit. I had done the work, I struggled, but I found myself on the other side. That was a big step for me in my maturity process. I don’t ever want to pitch like I did in the first half again.”
The 2021 over-slot right-hander enjoyed his brief time in Altoona. Chandler, hailing from North Oconee High School in Bogart, GA, said the mountains and pine trees around the stadium in Curve, PA reminded him of home. He will return to the level to start the 2024 season, bringing with him his mature and direct approach.
“He’s really grown up,” said Pirates farm director John Baker.
Baker recalled an outing that Chandler made last week in minor league camp against a good lineup in the Baltimore Orioles farm system. Chandler entered this season with the intent to focus on developing his changeup. In the start against the Orioles minor leaguers, he made that pitch a focus.
“I saw Bubba, for the first time, have a professional developmental outing,” said Baker. “Nice Orioles lineup that we’re playing, Bubba went out there and beforehand said ‘I need to focus and work on my changeup today.’ And he went out and threw many changeups. He was like Keith Foulke, he’s just throwing a changeup every other pitch, sometimes three in a row.”
Chandler gave up a few hits, but got the pitch to where he wanted it. He spent the offseason working with Pirates pitching guru Dewey Robinson on the pitch, then went back home and worked with former LSU coach Wes Johnson.
“I feel really comfortable throwing it, and every time I do throw it, it was good,” said Chandler at the start of camp about his offseason progressionwith the pitch. “Last year it was producing results, but it doesn’t look pretty, and it could be better. It looks pretty and it is better [this year], so I’m satisfied with it.”
The pitch has action like it’s on a string, departing from a sinker into a true changeup with late break. It breaks a little to the right and down, looking like the fastball out of his hand, but 10 MPH slower and with more movement.
“That’s a big step forward and a moment of growth for him,” said Baker of the changeup focus. “I think like some other guys, if he wanted to, he probably could have just reared back and thrown it by everybody. But he knows that that doesn’t work at a certain level, just doing that. You have to have complementary pitches and his slider and his changeup have both made big advancements this year, to complement which is a unique fastball.”
Chandler’s fastball sits mid-90s, hitting upper 90s. He averaged 96.9 MPH in the Spring Breakout game against the Orioles, picking up five whiffs in a single inning with the pitch and touching 98-99. His slider was a focus of development last year, eventually settling in at 87-92 MPH with “gyro slider-ish” side-to-side action. He also throws a curveball as a situational pitch.
“That’s obviously the way forward for young pitcher,” said Baker. “You have days where you go out and you don’t have your best fastball. You don’t have fastball command. What do you do in those days?”
Baker recalled something that former teammate Jon Lester told him. Lester would make over 30 starts in a season, but would only feel like he had all of his stuff in 8 to 10 of those outings. That leaves about 25 starts where a pitcher isn’t completely on his game.
“Experience throwing other things and constraining themselves to have to learn how to operate a game like that are really important opportunities,” said Baker. “It’s hard to force somebody to do that. … To go out and watch [Chandler] do that, it’s really cool to see Bubba taking those steps forward.”
Chandler did open eyes around the game with his second half performance. Baseball America named him the 59th best prospect in the game coming into this season, and he consistently ranks as a top five prospect in the Pirates’ system. Chandler ignores the hype from the prospect rankings, borrowing a term from Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin to call it “rat poison.”
“It’s cool to get recognized, but at the same time, there’s ten guys in this organization who are just as good, or better than me,” said the modest Chandler. “You don’t want to be the guy who is a top prospect and not make it. It’s cool getting recognized, but I don’t really think about it.”
Chandler added that he’s got the same goal as everyone else:
“At the end of the day, everyone wants to be playing in PNC Park.”
THIS WEEK ON PIRATES PROSPECTS
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**Jared Jones Forces the Pirates Hand
After an impressive Spring Training, Jared Jones has made the Pirates’ Opening Day rotation. This was far from a guarantee at the start of camp, but the performance from Jones and the development of his secondary stuff was enough to force the Pirates to make a decision.
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**Bubba Chandler Shows Advanced Maturity Entering Third Pro Season – READING
After a break to reset in the middle of 2023, Bubba Chandler had some of the best numbers in the Pittsburgh Pirates system in the second half. The right-handed pitcher continues to progress this spring, working on his changeup while bringing a mature approach to his game.
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