Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Two Pitchers Who Could Join Top 100 Lists in 2024

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Two of the Pittsburgh Pirates best pitching prospects could join most top 100 prospect lists early into 2024

Top 100 prospect lists will start coming out sometime early in 2024. The Pittsburgh Pirates have some prospects who should be guaranteed a spot, like Termarr Johnson, Paul Skenes, Anthony Solometo, and Jared Jones on most, if not all, top 100 lists. But some others should join them.

Through my research, I have found two Pirates pitching prospects who should join most, if not all, top 100 lists. They made major steps forward in 2023, improving some of their offerings, as well as their command. They already entered the year with high expectations and a lot of talent and started to meet those expectations and develop said talent.

Bubba Chandler

Bubba Chandler has always been a relatively highly touted prospect. He's ranked as a top-ten prospect in the Pirates system since they took him in the third round in 2021. However, after the second half of his 2023 campaign, Chandler showed a ton of promise and started to refine his raw talent.

Through his final 48.1 innings, Chandler owned an ERA of just 1.66 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, and 3.85 FIP. All of Chandler's peripherals had improvements. His 25.4% strikeout rate in the first half of the season rose to 28.2%, and his HR/9 went from 1.24 to 0.92, but his walk rate is the massive reason why we could see him on multiple top 100 lists.

Chandler had a 12.5% walk rate through the year's first half. But then, he cut that to just 7.2% in the second half of the year. In six of his nine starts, Chandler pitched at least five innings and allowed two or fewer free passes. Four of those outings saw him not allow a single walk.

There's never been a question about Chandler's stuff. He throws mid-upper-90s with his four-seam fastball. His slider sits in the mid-80s and has above-average action. According to Baseball America, he's significantly improved the command on his changeup. MLB Pipeline also likes his curveball, projecting it as an above-average fourth offering.

Again, there was never any question about Chandler's potential. But now that he's starting to throw strikes more consistently, you might start seeing him as a top-100 prospect across the league. The athleticism he used as a shortstop in high school and early on in his pro career is coming around as good command on the mound.

Thomas Harrington

Thomas Harrington was the team's first-round competitive balance pick in 2022. The Campbell University right-hander didn't debut until 2023, but once he reached the minor leagues, he didn't look back. Harrington had a quality rookie campaign and has established himself as one of the Pirates' best pitching prospects.

Through 127.1 innings, Harrington pitched to a 3.53 ERA, 4.00 FIP, and 1.24 WHIP. He had both a great 27.8% strikeout rate and a 7.8% walk rate, and his 3.56 K:BB ratio was the 41st highest among all minor league pitchers, with 100+ innings pitched last year. His 0.99 HR/9 rate was the worst number among his peripherals.

Harrington typically sits in the low 90s with his sinker and fastball. But because of the way he spins the ball, these pitches play above his velocity. The sinker has good movement, and the fastball rides through the zone. His curveball is a good pitch that comes in the low-80s with over 2500 RPM. Then there's his change-up, a low-spin pitch that has fall-off-the-table action.

There's one pitch that really stands out here, and that's his slider, which is more of a sweeper. According to Alex Strumpf of DK Sports, Harrington nearly doubled his slider's horizontal break, going from around 8.5 inches to 16.5 inches. If you want an idea of what 16.5 inches of horizontal break on a sweeper looks like, go watch Seth Lugo, Adam Ottavino, or Clay Holmes throw their sweepers.

Harrington now has two offerings that project as plus pitches: his slider and change-up. On top of that, his fastball plays beyond its velocity, and his curveball is another decent pitch. I think many projected Harrington as a high-floor/low-ceiling type pitcher, but after seeing what he was able to improve upon last season, is it unreasonable to say that he's definitely developed beyond that? I'd argue that's a fair and reasonable analysis.

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