Pittsburgh Pirates Get Arguably the Biggest Draft Steal

The Pittsburgh Pirates may have gotten the biggest steal of the draft in the third round with their selection of Bubba Chandler.

The Pittsburgh Pirates had the number one overall pick in the 2021 draft. They went under slot, selecting college catcher Henry Davis with the pick. The Pirates had their sights set on someone later in the draft and that player was likely their third-round pick. The team selected two-way high school star Bubba Chandler and it may have been the biggest steal of the draft.

Chandler is a right-handed pitcher and shortstop out of North Oconee High School. Of the two, he’s more well regarded as a starting pitcher. However, there’s still a case to be made to keep him as a two-way player.

Chandler is far from a bad shortstop. He’s a speedy middle infielder with a strong arm and some pop. As a defender, the switch hitter has a 55-fielding grade and 70-arm grade. He’s also a plus runner with a 55-run grade. He’s a power-over-hit kind of hitter. His hit tool is seen as just a 45-grade tool, but his power is about average with a 50-grade.

As a pitcher, he has a four-pitch mix. His four-seam fastball is seen as a 60-grade offering. He averages out at 90-94 MPH and has topped out at 96 MPH. He saw an uptick in velo this past season as he worked in the upper-80’s and lower-90’s. FanGraphs sees it as a future-average pitch.

He has two breaking balls. Of the two, his curveball is the best. Both MLB Pipeline and FanGraphs see it as a 55-grade pitch. His curve is a nice change of pace to his fastball as it only comes in around the mid-70’s. His slider is a third offering that MLB Pipeline sees as another average offering. He doesn’t use it much, but they still grade it as a 50-offering. Finally, there’s his change-up, a fourth pitch that, again, is seen as an average or better offering by both FanGraphs and Pipeline.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, somehow, got to pick Chandler at the #72nd overall spot. The Pirates got a huge steal on him. FanGraphs ranked him as the 14th best prospect available while MLB Pipeline put him at #21. Both sites’ mock drafts the day of the draft had him going top 25 overall.

When you look at other picks that were considered steals, none were as egregious as this one. Marcelo Mayer went 4th overall but was still projected to go within the first 2 or so picks. Kumar Rocker went 10th, however, he fell out of favor in many team’s eyes and was even projected to go around the 7th spot. Lawlar went 6th, but he was a consensus top 5 pick going into the draft. Kahlil Watson is the only one that could be in the conversation, but he still went #16.

Chandler was a consensus top 20 pick, yet he went almost 50 spots later than where many say him going. The Pirates went under slot for a reason at 1/1 and it looks like it could work out heavily in their favor.

While it’s yet to be seen whether or not the Pittsburgh Pirates will fully develop him as a two-way player, they’ll likely at least toy with the idea to start his professional career. He’s also not signed yet, but it seems likely that he’ll pick professional baseball over football at Clemson, especially with the Pirates able to go well over slot to sign him. The Pirates being able to get a player who could be an average or better shortstop while being a plus-plus pitcher in the third round makes him the best steal of the draft in my book.