Pirates' Bubba Chandler Rises In Prospect Rankings
The rise in prospect rankings continued for Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Bubba Chandler.
Baseball America released their top 100 rankings for the 2025 season and Chandler was ranked No. 7. Baseball America analyst Geoff Pontes noted Chandler's growth as a pitcher and the Pirates' track record with developing pitchers as instrumental in his rise into the top 10 of their rankings.
"Throughout the year, he showed development of the arsenal," Pontes said. "He showed development of the pitch ability, and not having to blow it by everybody every single time to get the outs. And credit to the Pirates as well. We've seen even beyond [Paul] Skenes some solid pitching development within that organization, which gives us maybe a little bit more optimism around a Pirates pitching prospect."
Pontes also added that he believes Chandler has the best fastball among Andrew Painter (Philadelphia Phillies) and Jackson Jobe (Detroit Tigers), who are also among the top right-handed pitching prospects in baseball. He also believes Chandler could have a shot to pitch 130 innings in the big leagues next season, which is certainly feasible if he's called up early in the 2025 season or the Pirates' No. 5 starting coming out of Spring Training.
Chandler made huge strides in his third season in the minor leagues, which saw him reach Triple-A Indianapolis and dominate. Chandler went 4-0 with a 1.83 ERA over seven starts and in 39.1 innings pitched, he struck out 54 batters and walked 15. Overall, Chandler was 10-7 with a 3.08 ERA in 26 appearances, including 23 starts.
Chandler also held opposing hitters to a .189 batting average across Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis.
The Pirates didn't hesitate to have Jared Jones make the team last season after a strong Spring Training. If Chandler has a similar performance in Spring Training this year, Pittsburgh could have another rookie in its starting rotation alongside Jones and Paul Skenes and boast one of baseball's most promising starting rotations.
