Bubba Chandler flashed promising arsenal vs Yankees, but Pirates prospect has ways to go

Bubba Chandler’s first spring start against the Yankees was basically a perfect Pirates prospect experience: two minutes of “oh my gosh, this is the next guy,” followed by a reminder that raw stuff doesn’t cash checks until it shows up in the strike zone.

The arsenal showed up. The fastball lived in the upper-90s and even touched triple digits, and the slider looked like the kind of pitch that makes hitters immediately start guessing instead of seeing. That part is why Chandler is still treated like a future rotation pillar. 

But the second inning wasn’t subtle. Chandler’s final line (1.2 IP, 0 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 K) tells you the ugly part, but the way it unfolded matters more: he was clean in the first inning (an efficient 1-2-3 frame), then completely lost his release point and walked four of six hitters in the second.  

And if you’re trying to figure out what to do with this outing emotionally, here’s the right answer: don’t overreact to one spring box score… but absolutely overreact (a little) to what the process is screaming.

Pirates’ spring breakout hype hits a shaky speed bump in one messy inning

One sharp breakdown pointed out Chandler threw 35 pitches and had a 60 percent ball rate. Even more telling: his four-seam fastball lived in the zone just 16% of the time, while his slider landed in the zone at a 75% clip. His “best pitch” (the heater) was the one he couldn’t harness, and the pitch you usually expect to be harder to command (the slider) was oddly the one doing its job.

That’s the developmental line for Chandler in 2026, and it’s not complicated.

If the fastball command is there, he looks like a terror — the kind of arm that can shorten games and make opponents feel like they need to score early because they won’t later. If it’s not there, the whole outing turns into stress pitching.

Pirates manager Don Kelly said Chandler got “amped up,” but came out healthy and the ball was coming out well — and that he’ll adjust. That’s the right tone for February. But it’s also the point. The Pirates don’t need Chandler to win spring training. They need him to learn how to pitch through that adrenaline without yanking his fastball into four straight noncompetitive misses.

The ceiling is obvious. The “ways to go” part is just as obvious. And until the fastball gets into the strike zone with intent, Chandler’s going to keep flirting with the same maddening reality: he can look unhittable and unwatchable in the same appearance.