Bubba Chandler is on track to join Paul Skenes and Jared Jones in the power department of the Pittsburgh Pirates starting rotation. Equipped with an elite upper-90s fastball and a solid array of secondary offerings, the 22-year-old right-hander has emerged as one of baseball’s highest-ceiling pitching prospects. As Eric Longenhagen notes in our forthcoming Top 100, Chandler, who was a two-sport, two-way player as an amateur and began focusing solely on pitching in 2023, is still developing, but “so far, [it’s] going as well as could have been hoped when he was drafted, and he’s tracking like a mid-rotation starter.”
His 2024 season offered ample evidence of his ability to overpower hitters. In 119 2/3 innings between Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis, Chandler fanned 148 batters while surrendering just 81 hits. Along with a 30.9% strikeout rate and a .187 batting-average-against, he logged a 3.08 ERA and a 3.10 FIP. Moreover, he displayed improved command. The 2021 third-round draft pick out of Bogart, Georgia’s North Oconee High School lowered his walk rate from 10.5% in 2023 to a stingier 8.6% last season.
Chandler discussed his developmental strides, and the bat-missing arsenal he takes with him to the mound, earlier this month.
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David Laurila: What have you learned about pitching since getting to pro ball?
Bubba Chandler: “The number one thing has been command. You can have great stuff, but I’ve noticed that the more I’ve gone up [minor league levels], the less guys swing at crappy pitches. In Low-A, you can throw a slider way out of the zone, and a lot of times you’re going to get a swing. If you throw a slider way out of the zone in Triple-A, especially if you didn’t set that pitch up, you’re not even going to get a lean over, or a budge, on it.
“Learning how to set pitches up has been a big thing for me. Setting them up, tunneling, and just how pitches move… but really, the command part is really what has helped make me better.”
Laurila: Do you feel you have a good understanding of your pitches in terms of what type of movement, and in which zones, is most effective?
Chandler: “Oh, definitely. Any time I’m keeping my changeup bottom shelf, it’s not going to get hit. Kind of the same thing with my slider. And my slider actually gets hit more when it’s down-and-away to a righty, rather than just down the middle and low. When my heater is top shelf, it rarely gets put in play. It’s when my fastball is middle, or stays low, that it gets hit a little bit.”
Laurila: Can you elaborate on your slider? You said that it gets hit more when it’s down-and-away?
Chandler: “So, whenever my slider is low-and-away, it gets touched — it gets a little more hit — because it’s not really staying through. It’s more just spinning, instead of just going down. When it’s middle-down, I’ve stayed through that pitch and it has more depth, so guys are swinging over the top of it.”
Laurila: Your repertoire is a four-seamer, a slider, and a changeup, correct?
Chandler: “I have a curveball, as well. That’s a funny story. I popped my arm on a curveball when I was a freshman in high school, so I told myself I’d never throw that pitch again. But pitching in professional baseball is hard. I needed a pitch that went straight down, and I’ve always been able to throw a curveball, kind of 12-6-ish, so I was like, ‘You know what? I’ll start throwing it again.’
“I started throwing it again last year, and it was actually a lot better than I thought it was going to be. It set up my slider really well, because it’s a different shape for the hitter’s eyes. The curveball is 81 [mph] with -5, -10 drop, [whereas] the slider is 90 with -2 drop. The curveball has gotten a lot better this offseason, too.”
Laurila: You popped your arm on a curveball?
Chandler: “Oh yeah. Have you ever hit your funny bone?”
Laurila: Of course.
Chandler: “Well, I broke my funny bone. I threw that curveball to a guy named Kumar Rocker. You probably know him? We went to high school together, and were playing an intersquad. I threw him a curveball, he hit it about 400 feet, and I had surgery on my elbow two days later.
“I rehabbed for almost a year and a half. I kept growing, an inch here, half an inch there — my growth plates were being weird — so the rehab kept getting prolonged. The injury happened in January of my freshman year, and I didn’t even pick up a baseball again until January of my sophomore year.”
Laurila: Speaking of growing, I’ve seen you listed at 6-foot-2, 200 pounds. Is that accurate?
Chandler: “Nah, man. I don’t get mad at literally anything — I’m an easygoing guy — but that grinds me, because I’ve had trouble putting on weight my whole life. I ate six Whoppers a day for six months going into my senior year, and went from 160 to 200. Now I’m 6-3 and around 220. I think they’re finally going to get that changed.”
Laurila: I read last summer that your changeup is sometimes mistaken for a two-seamer?
Chandler: “So when I was in Double-A, with the minor league ball, it was a little more vertical. I kept it sub-12 vert, with a little higher spin — it was close to 2,000 [rpm] spin — and it had 18-20 horizontal. When I got to Triple-A, it dropped down to sub-six with about the same horizontal and around 1,500 spin. Then, this offseason, every time I throw it, it’s sub-three vert with 20 horizontal. So, I think it’s more of a true changeup now. The tilt and the spin are super low.”
Laurila: The spin changed that much with a different ball?
Chandler: “Everything kind of changed. In spring training last year we threw big league balls, obviously, and then when I got sent down to minor league camp, my slider movement was completely different. I mean, it was drastic. My slider was -1, -2 with a big league ball, and when I got sent down it was like three, four. I was like, ‘This is a totally different pitch. What’s going on?’ It was kind of the same thing in Altoona, but then when I got called up to Indianapolis, it went back to sub-zero. It was more of a gyro pitch. This offseason, it’s gotten depthier, which is what I’m looking for.”
Laurila: You said earlier that setting up your pitches is especially important.
Chandler: “Yes. My profile is… like, the driver is going to be the heater most of the time. Wherever my heater goes, first pitch, that’s what we’re playing off of. If my first pitch to a righty is a heater down the middle, I can run a changeup off that. It’s going to be low-and-in, and either it’s going to be a take for a strike, or he’s going to beat it into the dirt. I could also save that changeup for when I get to two strikes; I can throw a slider off the heater and get the same thing. So yeah, everything comes off the fastball.”
Laurila: Do you consider velocity to be important to your game?
Chandler: “Of course. The harder you throw, the less time hitters have to react.”
Laurila: I read in this year’s Baseball America Handbook that you get a lot of extension, which helps generate a flatter plane from your vertical slot. Does that make sense?
Chandler: “Yes. My extension is around [six feet, nine inches]. And then my release height is close to six feet, or something like that. It had been around [five feet, eight inches], but I fixed the mechanics with my lower half this offseason, which has added a lot of vert to my fastball. The extension is about the same, or maybe an inch or two further, so the fastball has been looking great. Everything is looking great.”
Laurila: Pitchers are always talking shop and comparing grips. Who are the guys you’ve had the most interesting interactions with?
Chandler: “Braxton Ashcraft is one. We’re kind of similar with some stuff. And then, one of the best pitchers I’ve ever been around is Thomas Harrington. That dude… every single offseason he comes back with a different pitch. And it’s elite. He also understands pressures on the ball, and stuff like that, a lot better than I do. He’s a guy I can talk to about how to manipulate a slider, because he throws this harder, downer curveball that’s pretty much a super-depthy slider. And if he wants to, he can throw a freaking Clayton Kershaw curveball with that same grip, just with different pressure. So, Thomas Harrington and Braxton Ashcraft have been guys that have helped me with a changeup grip, a curveball grip — kind of manipulating the different sides, and pressures, of the ball.”
Laurila: Any final thoughts on your development as a pitcher?
Chandler: “Not really. I’ve learned a lot, but at the same time, my thoughts on pitching are really just throw strikes, have confidence, and trust your stuff. Bet on yourself.”
Content Source: blogs.fangraphs.com