4 Pittsburgh Pirates pitching prospects who deserve a promotion

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ system is filled to the brim with pitching talent. Even with their two best pitching prospects graduating prospect status this year in Paul Skenes and Jared Jones, there are still a myriad of other pitchers in the system who are coming up and looking as exciting as ever. The Pirates could have one of the most formidable pitching staffs in baseball in the coming years.

While the Pirates have bumped some of their prospects up to the next level this year, like Braxton Ashcraft, they still have a handful of other top pitching prospects who have done extremely well in the first half of the year and deserve the bump to the next level of the minor leagues. For some, they have nothing left to prove at their current level, as they’ve been dominating all season.

For those wanting to see prospects who should get sent from the Florida Complex League to A-Ball Bradenton, you’re in luck, as I’ve already written an article on that topic. Today, we’re going to look at prospects from all levels who deserve a bump to the next step in their baseball journey.

Bubba Chandler

Bubba Chandler has built off his promising 2023 season with an even better 2024. He’s pitched 63.2 innings, working to a 3.53 ERA, 3.19 FIP, and 1.01 WHIP. Chandler has kept walks under control and has an 8.7% BB%, and he’s also striking out a ton of batters with a 30.4% K%. He’s also been able to limit the long ball with a 0.71 HR/9. But since June, Chandler has been unbeatable on the mound.

Over his last 35 innings pitched, Chandler has a 1.80 ERA, 1.66 FIP, and 0.69 WHIP. He’s allowing fewer walks in this stretch than prime Greg Maddux, sporting a 2.3% walk rate, but he’s still punching out over a third of the opponents he’s gone up against with a 33.8% K%. Chandler has allowed just a single home run and 21 total hits, with opponents owning a meager .167 batting average against him.

Chandler is regularly sitting in the mid/upper-90s as a starting pitcher, topping out at 100 MPH. He’s been able to carry that velocity deep into games, too, going at least 6.2 innings in each of his last three starts. His fastball isn’t flat either, with good ride at the top of the zone, but he’ll also mix in a very good slider that will get swings and misses, a changeup, and a curveball. Chandler is putting it all together with his command on the mound, too. This is something that plagued him early in his pro career, but he’s locating without any issues now.

If he turns in another start that resembles anything like his last three or four, the Pirates might not have another choice other than to send him to Triple-A. Chandler doesn’t have much left to prove at Altoona. He’s been flat-out dominant for over a month now and has been producing quality results all year. He’s become one of the best pitching prospects in baseball, and it’s time to see what he can do at Indianapolis.

Carlson Reed

One of the many pitchers the Pirates took in the 2023 draft was Carlson Reed. Coming out of WVU, Reed was utilized as a late-inning arm for the Mountaineers. But despite getting drafted as a reliever, the Pirates slotted Reed into Bradenton’s rotation, and he has pitched even better than he did for West Virginia last year.

Reed has pitched to a 2.75 ERA, 3.76 FIP, and 1.31 WHIP. The righty has only allowed four homers in 68.2 innings while posting a 55.1% ground ball rate. Batters have just an 85 MPH exit velo and 2.8% barrel rate against him, so it’s no surprise he’s barely allowed any homers. Another one of his strengths this year has been inducing strikeouts. Reed has a 31.9% whiff rate and 28.8% K%. 

Unfortunately, Reed struggles with command. He’s handed out a walk to 13.5% of opponents faced this year. Even with WVU last year, he had a 14.5% BB%. He’s a long 6’4”, 200 pounds, and his delivery, which includes keeping his arm long, can hinder his command on the bump. Luckily, the stuff should play well enough that below-average command might be good enough to get the job done.

As a reliever, Reed sat in the mid-90s, but he’s been closer to the lower 90s as a starter, which isn’t all that surprising. Reed’s arsenal includes a four-seamer that sits 93-94, a sinker that comes in around 91-93, a low-80s slider, which he gets a ton of his swings and misses with, and a low/mid-80s changeup.

Getting bumped to Greensboro could be a real test for Reed. That could determine if he stays in the rotation or gets bumped to a bullpen role long-term. Reed has been a nice surprise. He’ll definitely be an interesting prospect to watch to see if he can stick as a starter. If so, he’ll be yet another prospect who could potentially find himself as a long-term cog in the Pirates’ rotation.

Po-Yu Chen

In a rotation headlined by Bubba Chandler and Thomas Harrington, Po-Yu Chen often gets overlooked. But don’t be fooled. The Taiwanese right-hander has been just as good as both this season, especially over the last few months. Chen has also been dominant for the most part of his 2024 campaign.

Chen got off to a rough start to the year, but over his last 54.2 innings, he has just a 2.47 ERA, 3.70 FIP, and 1.10 WHIP. Chen’s K% prior to his stretch was just 10.5%, but he’s now upped that to 21.1%. He also has a walk rate of just 7.8%, with a HR/9 rate of 0.49. Chen has pitched at least six innings in six of his nine outings, and has allowed more than three earned runs just once during this hot streak.

Chen sits low-90s with his four-seam fastball. His breaking offerings include a slider and curveball. His best offering is his split-change. It’s the only pitch in his arsenal that projects as a plus offering. However, one thing that makes Chen’s stuff play up is his command. He can locate very well and has clearly been doing so over his last nine games.

Chen is only 22 but has been pitching extremely well. At some point, the Pirates need to consider bumping Chen to Triple-A Indy. He can join Harrington and Chandler at the next level, too, forming a very formidable Triple-A rotation. Even if he doesn’t project like an ace on the level of either of his two teammates, Chen could still find himself as a rotation option for the Pirates as soon as next season.