Pirates Top Prospect Among Players To Watch In Spring Training
There's no shortage of players to keep an eye on for the Pittsburgh Pirates this Spring Training.
What Paul Skenes does for an encore after winning the 2024 National League Rookie of the Year and finishing third in the NL CY Young vote, how Jared Jones improves from his second season, or how catcher Endy Rodríguez and right-handed starting pitcher Johan Oviedo return from Tommy John surgery are among the many storylines for the Pirates. ESPN's Alden Gonzalez picked one player to watch for every team in Spring Training and tabbed top prospect, right-handed pitcher Bubba Chandler for the Pirates.
While the odds may be stacked against Chandler to break camp with the Pirates, Gonzalez noted Jones was in a similar situation before making the Opening Day roster last season.
"A third-round pick out of high school in 2021, Chandler graduated to Triple-A last summer, posting a 1.83 ERA in seven International League starts, and came in at No. 11 in McDaniels' Top 100," Gonzalez writes. "He's in major league camp this spring, and though it's a longshot to see him crack the Opening Day roster, keep in mind we said the same thing about Jones last year."
20 seconds of Bubba Chandler and Paul Skenes for yinz pic.twitter.com/24yFOofFnq
— Alex Stumpf (@AlexJStumpf) February 12, 2025
Chandler rose the ranks on the heels of a stellar 2024 season that saw him rise from Double-A Altoona to Triple-A Indianapolis. Overall, Pittsburgh's top prospect went 10-7 with a 3.08 ERA in 26 appearances, including 23 starts. Chandler elevated his game to another level upon reaching Triple-A, as he was 4-0 with a 1.83 ERA in seven starts while striking out 54 batters in 39 1/3 innings.
Chandler may very well follow the path of Skenes or Jones this season. If he finds the same level of success they had, the Pirates could be poised to have one of the best starting rotations in baseball for the foreseeable future.
"The Pirates' rotation has the makings of something special," Gonzalez writes. "Paul Skenes, who finished third in Cy Young voting as a rookie last year, clearly leads it. But Jared Jones also has star potential, Mitch Keller has been really good for three years, Bailey Falter was solid last season and Johan Oviedo is back from Tommy John surgery. At some point soon, Chandler could join that mix."
