Pirates' Top Prospect Could Make Opening Day Roster
On the heels of Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes taking the league by storm en route to winning the 2024 National League Rookie of the Year, they have another top prospect coming up the pipeline and knocking on the door to the big leagues with Bubba Chandler.
But could Pittsburgh take a different path with Chandler compared to the one it took with Skenes?
MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo did a Q&A and wrote about Chandler's chances of making Pittsburgh's roster at the start of the 2025 season. With Chandler's strong performance to end the 2024 season in Triple-A, Mayo believes he's ready for the big leagues. Mayo also noted Pittsburgh's handling of Skenes' rookie season and keeping him in the minors for the first month of the 2024 season only for him to earn a year of service time and lose a draft pick as a result of winning the Rookie of the Year could affect its plans for Chandler.
"After seven starts with Triple-A Indianapolis, I don’t think Chandler, just 22 years old, has much more to prove in the Minors," Mayo writes. "So then it becomes a matter of when the Pirates decide to bring him up. Sure, some more time with Indy wouldn’t hurt his development, but what if he’s lights out in Spring Training if/when they give him the chance in big league camp to compete for a job? They waited on Paul Skenes for a host of reasons, then saw him win Rookie of the Year and they lost out on an extra Draft pick they would have received had he been up on Opening Day. And because he won the award, he was given a full year of service time anyway."
Chandler is the Pirates' top prospect and ranked 15th in baseball by MLB Pipeline. He's also the second-best pitching prospect in baseball, only trailing Detroit Tigers right-handed pitching prospect Jackson Jobe.
Chandler went 10-7 with a 3.08 ERA over 26 appearances, 23 of which were starts and he struck out 148 batters over 119.2 innings pitched across Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis. The right-handed pitching prospect was especially impressive in Triple-A, going 4-0 with a 1.83 ERA across seven starts and striking out 54 batters in his 39.1 innings pitched. He also held opponents to a .183 batting average in Indianapolis.
With the Pirates' pitching depth in the big leagues, including Skenes, Jared Jones and Mitch Keller, Chandler likely has an uphill climb to crack the opening day roster. But even if he has to go back to Triple-A, Mayo believes Chandler will make an impact for the Pirates at some point in 2025.
"Would the Pirates consider having Chandler up on Opening Day because of that lesson? That will be a very interesting storyline to watch this offseason and in Bradenton for Spring Training," Mayo writes. "But even if he’s not part of a rotation (Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, Mitch Keller, Luis Ortiz and Bubba Chandler sure sounds good, doesn’t it?), right out of the gate, look for Chandler to make a big contribution in Pittsburgh."
