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.

Thomas Harrington

Thomas Harrington is arguably the Pirates’ second-best pitching prospect and their third-best prospect overall. The right-hander had an extremely promising 2023 season between Bradenton and Greensboro, and while he missed the first month of the 2024 campaign, he’s not only picked up where he’s left off, but he’s doing even better than he did for the Marauders or the Grasshoppers.

Through 52.2 frames, Harrington has a 2.41 ERA, 2.81 FIP, and 1.02 WHIP. He’s striking out over a quarter of batters faced for the second season in a row with a 26.8% K%. On top of that, he has one of the lowest walk rates among minor league starters. His 3.8% BB% is the eighth-lowest among all minor-league arms who have started at least 10 games. Harrington has been immune to home runs, sporting an 0.60 HR/9 on the year.

Unlike Chandler, Harrington doesn’t overpower guys with high-90s heat. Instead, he sits 93-94 MPH with great spin, giving it ride through the top of the zone. Harrington’s slider has also improved since he’s reached pro ball. He employs a sweeper in the low-80s that he gets a good amount of swings and misses on. Another pitch that he added last year was a cutter, which has shown some potential as an average or better pitch. Then there’s his two-seamer, which also sits low-90s like his four-seamer, but with more sinking action. Finally, Harrington will mix in a changeup that has above-average potential, though his other pitches have seemingly surpassed it.

Either way, he can throw all of his pitches for strikes, and he consistently hits his spots. This is something else that helps Harrington’s stuff play up. He has plus command, and he’s put that on display by posting a walk rate below 4%. He’s one of just 32 minor league starters with a BB% below 5%.

While I understand Harrington got a late jump to the season, he’s been outright dominant for Altoona. Like Chandler, he’s got almost nothing left to prove at Double-A. There might have been an outside chance Harrington would have already been at Triple-A had he been healthy to start the year and was pitching like he has been, but in April as well. Still, Harrington should be at Triple-A soon, maybe by the end of July if he pitches anything like he has thus far at Altoona.

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.