Bubba Chandler is on monitor to hitch Paul Skenes and Jared Jones within the energy division of the Pittsburgh Pirates beginning rotation. Outfitted with an elite upper-90s fastball and a stable array of secondary choices, the 22-year-old right-hander has emerged as one in all baseball’s highest-ceiling pitching prospects. As Eric Longenhagen notes in our forthcoming Prime 100, Chandler, who was a two-sport, two-way participant as an novice and commenced focusing solely on pitching in 2023, continues to be creating, however “to this point, [it’s] going in addition to might have been hoped when he was drafted, and he’s monitoring like a mid-rotation starter.”
His 2024 season provided ample proof of his capacity to overpower hitters. In 119 2/3 innings between Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis, Chandler fanned 148 batters whereas surrendering simply 81 hits. Together with a 30.9% strikeout charge and a .187 batting-average-against, he logged a 3.08 ERA and a 3.10 FIP. Furthermore, he displayed improved command. The 2021 third-round draft select of Bogart, Georgia’s North Oconee Excessive Faculty lowered his stroll charge from 10.5% in 2023 to a stingier 8.6% final season.
Chandler mentioned 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 ever discovered about pitching since attending to professional ball?
Bubba Chandler: “The primary factor has been command. You’ll be able to have nice stuff, however I’ve seen that the extra I’ve gone up [minor league levels], the much less guys swing at crappy pitches. In Low-A, you possibly can throw a slider approach out of the zone, and a variety of occasions you’re going to get a swing. For those who throw a slider approach out of the zone in Triple-A, particularly if you happen to didn’t set that pitch up, you’re not even going to get a lean over, or a budge, on it.
“Studying how you can set pitches up has been an enormous factor for me. Setting them up, tunneling, and simply how pitches transfer… however actually, the command half is admittedly what has helped make me higher.”
Laurila: Do you’re feeling you’ve got understanding of your pitches by way of what sort of motion, and during which zones, is simplest?
Chandler: “Oh, undoubtedly. Any time I’m holding my changeup backside shelf, it’s not going to get hit. Form of the identical factor with my slider. And my slider truly will get hit extra when it’s down-and-away to a righty, somewhat than simply down the center and low. When my heater is high shelf, it hardly ever will get put in play. It’s when my fastball is center, or stays low, that it will get hit somewhat bit.”
Laurila: Are you able to elaborate in your slider? You mentioned that it will get hit extra when it’s down-and-away?
Chandler: “So, at any time when my slider is low-and-away, it will get touched — it will get somewhat extra hit — as a result of it’s not likely staying by means of. It’s extra simply spinning, as an alternative of simply taking place. When it’s middle-down, I’ve stayed by means of that pitch and it has extra depth, so guys are swinging excessive of it.”
Laurila: Your repertoire is a four-seamer, a slider, and a changeup, appropriate?
Chandler: “I’ve a curveball, as nicely. That’s a comic story. I popped my arm on a curveball after I was a freshman in highschool, so I informed myself I’d by no means throw that pitch once more. However pitching in skilled baseball is difficult. I wanted a pitch that went straight down, and I’ve all the time been in a position to throw a curveball, sort of 12-6-ish, so I used to be like, ‘You realize what? I’ll begin throwing it once more.’
“I began throwing it once more final 12 months, and it was truly quite a bit higher than I believed it was going to be. It arrange my slider very well, as a result of it’s a distinct form 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 quite a bit higher this offseason, too.”
Laurila: You popped your arm on a curveball?
Chandler: “Oh yeah. Have you ever ever hit your humorous bone?”
Laurila: In fact.
Chandler: “Effectively, I broke my humorous bone. I threw that curveball to a man named Kumar Rocker. You in all probability know him? We went to highschool collectively, and had been enjoying an intersquad. I threw him a curveball, he hit it about 400 ft, and I had surgical procedure on my elbow two days later.
“I rehabbed for nearly a 12 months and a half. I saved rising, an inch right here, half an inch there — my progress plates had been being bizarre — so the rehab saved getting extended. The harm occurred in January of my freshman 12 months, and I didn’t even decide up a baseball once more till January of my sophomore 12 months.”
Laurila: Talking of rising, I’ve seen you listed at 6-foot-2, 200 kilos. Is that correct?
Chandler: “Nah, man. I don’t get mad at actually something — I’m an easygoing man — however that grinds me, as a result of I’ve had bother placing on weight my entire life. I ate six Whoppers a day for six months going into my senior 12 months, and went from 160 to 200. Now I’m 6-3 and round 220. I feel they’re lastly going to get that modified.”
Laurila: I learn final summer season that your changeup is usually mistaken for a two-seamer?
Chandler: “So after I was in Double-A, with the minor league ball, it was somewhat extra vertical. I saved it sub-12 vert, with somewhat increased spin — it was near 2,000 [rpm] spin — and it had 18-20 horizontal. After I acquired to Triple-A, it dropped all the way down to sub-six with about the identical horizontal and round 1,500 spin. Then, this offseason, each time I throw it, it’s sub-three vert with 20 horizontal. So, I feel it’s extra of a real changeup now. The lean and the spin are tremendous low.”
Laurila: The spin modified that a lot with a distinct ball?
Chandler: “Every little thing sort of modified. In spring coaching final 12 months we threw massive league balls, clearly, after which after I acquired despatched all the way down to minor league camp, my slider motion was utterly totally different. I imply, it was drastic. My slider was -1, -2 with an enormous league ball, and after I acquired despatched down it was like three, 4. I used to be like, ‘This can be a completely totally different pitch. What’s occurring?’ It was sort of the identical factor in Altoona, however then after I acquired known as as much as Indianapolis, it went again to sub-zero. It was extra of a gyro pitch. This offseason, it’s gotten depthier, which is what I’m on the lookout for.”
Laurila: You mentioned earlier that organising your pitches is very necessary.
Chandler: “Sure. My profile is… like, the driving force goes to be the heater more often than not. Wherever my heater goes, first pitch, that’s what we’re enjoying off of. If my first pitch to a righty is a heater down the center, I can run a changeup off that. It’s going to be low-and-in, and both it’s going to be a take for a strike, or he’s going to beat it into the dust. I might additionally save that changeup for after I get to 2 strikes; I can throw a slider off the heater and get the identical factor. So yeah, every thing comes off the fastball.”
Laurila: Do you contemplate velocity to be necessary to your sport?
Chandler: “In fact. The tougher you throw, the much less time hitters need to react.”
Laurila: I learn on this 12 months’s Baseball America Handbook that you simply get a variety of extension, which helps generate a flatter aircraft out of your vertical slot. Does that make sense?
Chandler: “Sure. My extension is round [six feet, nine inches]. After which my launch top is shut to 6 ft, or one thing like that. It had been round [five feet, eight inches], however I mounted the mechanics with my decrease half this offseason, which has added a variety of vert to my fastball. The extension is about the identical, or possibly an inch or two additional, so the fastball has been trying nice. Every little thing is trying nice.”
Laurila: Pitchers are all the time speaking store and evaluating grips. Who’re the fellows you’ve had essentially the most fascinating interactions with?
Chandler: “Braxton Ashcraft is one. We’re sort of related with some stuff. After which, probably the greatest pitchers I’ve ever been round is Thomas Harrington. That dude… each single offseason he comes again with a distinct pitch. And it’s elite. He additionally understands pressures on the ball, and stuff like that, quite a bit higher than I do. He’s a man I can speak to about how you can manipulate a slider, as a result of he throws this tougher, downer curveball that’s just about a super-depthy slider. And if he needs to, he can throw a freaking Clayton Kershaw curveball with that very same grip, simply with totally different strain. So, Thomas Harrington and Braxton Ashcraft have been guys which have helped me with a changeup grip, a curveball grip — sort of manipulating the totally different sides, and pressures, of the ball.”
Laurila: Any last ideas in your improvement as a pitcher?
Chandler: “Probably not. I’ve discovered quite a bit, however on the similar time, my ideas on pitching are actually simply throw strikes, trust, and belief your stuff. Wager on your self.”
