Rising Pitcher Named Pirates Top Minor Leaguer
Baseball America has crowned right-handed pitching prospect Bubba Chandler as the Pittsburgh Pirates' 2024 Minor League Player Of The Year.
In what has been a banner year for the Pirates' pitching development, Chandler represents one of the more substantial "wins" across the board. Across 26 appearances (23 starts) with Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis this year, he posted a 3.08 ERA and 148 strikeouts over 119 2/3 innings.
Chandler earned a trip to the All-Star Futures Game at Globe Life Field this summer and is currently ranked as BA's No. 21 overall prospect, which is the highest placement of any Pirates farmhand and the fifth-highest among all minor league pitchers.
Mark Chiarelli, who wrote the piece for BA, highlighted Chandler's athletic background and overbearing nature of his fastball in addition to the strides he's made in perfecting his secondary pitches and improving his command.
"Chandler oozes athleticism," Chiarelli wrote. "Drafted as a two-way player out of high school in Georgia, he was committed to Clemson as a quarterback and is a scratch golfer who has the dexterity to carry a lefthanded club—despite playing righthanded—in case he finds himself in trouble.
And his 97 mph fastball is a unicorn. It scrapes triple digits and has elite velocity, carry and extension markers.
Chandler harnessed that athleticism—and refined his secondaries—more consistently in 2024.
He encouraged the Pirates with his ability to land his entire arsenal, particularly his mid-80s slider, in the zone more frequently as the season progressed, especially once challenged by more experienced Triple-A hitters."
Pittsburgh could soon possess a rotation chock-full of powerful homegrown arms that promise to lead the organization back into contention. Chandler, whom the Pirates took in the third round of the 2021 MLB Draft, has the potential to be at the forefront of that movement alongside Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, Mitch Keller, Braxton Ashcraft and Thomas Harrington.
JACK MARKOWSKI