Former Dual-Sport Clemson Commit Draws NL Rookie of the Year Buzz

With college baseball and MLB spring training drawing closer — as both start this month — betting odds and preseason predictions have begun to spark conversations around the league for fans.

This past Sunday, Just Baseball and BetMGM released their 2026 National League Rookie of the Year odds, with former Clemson Tigers commit Bubba Chandler slotted at the No. 5 spot with +1000 odds.

2026 National League Rookie of the Year Odds @BetMGM pic.twitter.com/CycM7vMZzE
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) February 1, 2026

Chandler’s placement is backed up by a brief but promising sample at the Major League level in 2025. The 22-year-old made seven game appearances, logging 31.1 innings pitched while striking out 31 batters and allowing just 14 earned runs across 124 batters faced. He finished the season with a 4.02 ERA, a 4-1 record and one save.

Despite the strong debut, Chandler maintained his rookie eligibility, as he did not exceed 50 innings pitched or spend 45 total days on an active MLB roster during the regular season.

While the odds alone are impressive, Chandler’s presence near the top of the list is even more intriguing when considering the unconventional path that brought him here.

Long before his name emerged at the professional level, Chandler was known as one of the most gifted multi-sport athletes in the country. However, professional scouts ultimately viewed baseball as his clearest path forward.

As the starting signal caller for North Oconee High School, Chandler garnered national attention and ranked as the No. 200 overall player, the No. 20 quarterback and the No. 17 player in Georgia, according to 247Sports rankings.

On the baseball side, however, his profile reached an entirely different level. Perfect Game ranked Chandler as the No. 13 overall player in the country, the No. 4 right-handed pitcher and the No. 3 player in the state of Georgia.

The Lawrenceville, Georgia native initially committed to his home-state school, Georgia, in the summer of 2019 with plans to play baseball exclusively. That pledge didn’t last long, though, as Chandler ultimately decided to decommit and pursue a dual-sport career, flipping to the Tigers in May of 2020.

Clemson has seen similar situations play out before and after, with guys like Kyle Parker and Will Taylor navigating similar situations. Most recently, 2026 signee Tait Reynolds followed a similar route, initially committing to Arizona State — which is about 30 minutes from his high school — to play only baseball before flipping to Clemson with the intent to play both football and baseball, though Reynolds will focus on football this spring.

In the summer of 2021, Chandler officially enrolled at Clemson and started participating in football team workouts. But his time on campus was unsurprisingly brief, as he soon heard his name called by the Pittsburgh Pirates, who selected him with the No. 72 overall pick in the third round of the MLB Draft.

He opted to forgo college, a decision rooted in a lifelong dream of playing at the highest level of baseball, and officially signed with Pittsburgh in July for a $3 million signing bonus.

From there, he spent the next four years steadily climbing the minor league ladder, moving through rookie ball and Single-A before reaching Triple-A, where his development began to mirror the long-term projections scouts once envisioned.

Now, with a brief Major League stint under his belt and rookie eligibility still intact, Chandler enters the 2026 season with the Pirates positioned as one of the National League’s most intriguing young arms.

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