Bubba Chandler comp should silence Pirates fans panicking over walks

The Pittsburgh Pirates have remained afloat in what has been an absolute gauntlet of a division so far. The team's success in the early going has in large part (and not surprisingly) been thanks to their starting pitching.

However, it hasn't exactly been smooth sailing for Bubba Chandler. The young flamethrower displayed impeccable command when he made his MLB debut at the end of last season, striking out 31 batters in seven games against just four walks. In his first nine starts of the 2026 campaign (42 innings pitched), he's recorded 36 strikeouts and walked a league-high 31 batters.

The Pirates are just 2-7 when Chandler toes the rubber this season and 1-4 when he walks at least four batters. Chandler has been his own toughest critic, grading his April 6 performance against the Padres as "pisspoor" and promising that such an outing "won't happen again." Similarly, after allowing five runs in just three innings in his most recent start against the Phillies, Chandler called himself "soft."

While many have assumed that the Pirates will move Carmen Mlodzinski to the bullpen when Jared Jones returns from the injured list (it definitely won't be Jones pitching in relief), it could be Chandler who makes the move instead. Like Chandler, Mlodzinski has struggled at times this season, with career highs in both ERA (4.40) and WHIP (1.44). If moving Chandler to the bullpen provides the reset he needs, then so be it — he's too talented for the Pirates not to straighten this out.

Tyler Glasnow career arc provides optimism as fans await Bubba Chandler breakout

The last time the Pirates had a young arm of this caliber struggle like this in the big leagues, he ultimately figured it out, although it took a bit of a winding road to get there. Enter Tyler Glasnow.

Like Chandler, Glasnow started out as an electric high school prospect with a blazing fastball, plus secondary offerings, and control that required some serious development. His first taste as a full-time starter in MLB was actually far worse than Chandler's (7.69 ERA, 2.02 WHIP), which prompted a demotion to Triple-A and a spot in Pittsburgh's bullpen the following season.

Of course, Glasnow was included in the infamous trade that brought Chris Archer to Pittsburgh, and he became a brand new pitcher in Tampa almost immediately. Despite being sidelined by injuries multiple times, he was one of the sport's best starting pitchers with the Rays, and that success has continued since his trade to the Dodgers — he has a 3.23 ERA and a 32.9% strikeout rate in 652 1/3 innings since the Pirates traded him.

Glasnow's career provides optimism that Chandler can right the ship, and although it's discouraging that it took a trade out of Pittsburgh to revive Glasnow's career, there's a silver lining here. One of the men at the forefront of the Rays' evolution as a pitching development machine, Dewey Robinson, left the Rays to join the Pirates in December of 2021 and has spearheaded Pittsburgh's pitching development efforts ever since.

Bubba Chandler becoming a frontline starter in a rotation that already includes Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Braxton Ashcraft, and Jared Jones would go a long way towards the Pirates establishing themselves as legitimate playoff contenders in the National League. Although it's been tough in the early going, it looks like he has the talent (and the resources around him) to finally break out like Tyler Glasnow did.

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