Rookie of the Year buzz grows around exciting Pirates duo

Pittsburgh Pirates fans have gotten pretty used to hearing national people talk around their potential without actually planting a flag on anything. So when two of their prospects start showing up in Rookie of the Year conversations at the same time, it hits a little different. 

MLB.com’s front-office poll had Konnor Griffin and Bubba Chandler both getting legitimate ROY love, with Pittsburgh standing out as the only team with two players among the leaders. 

Let’s start with the obvious headliner: Griffin. If you’re the No. 1 prospect in baseball and execs are already tossing your name into a ROY poll, that’s “people are bracing for impact” territory.

Pirates may have a dangerous ROY one-two punch in Griffin and Chandler

MLB.com noted Griffin climbed fast and hit everywhere, with a loud stat line that included slashing .333/.415/.527, with  21 homers, and 65 steals across three levels. That’s a season that makes your ETA feel less like a calendar date and more like a countdown. 

Now, the more immediate guy is Chandler, because he’s already knocked down the door and still has his cleats on. MLB Pipeline’s team-by-team ROY candidates piece straight-up picked Chandler as the Pirates’ guy — and even admitted it was tempting to go bold with Griffin, but Chandler is the safer bet to actually be there from the jump. The reasoning is simple: he’s expected to be in the Opening Day rotation, and he flashed real upside late, including a ridiculous three-outing stretch  (16 2/3 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 19 K) that reads like a pitcher who can bully hitters. 

It’s interesting how different this duo is. Griffin is the potential firework — the prospect who could force the Pirates to get uncomfortable with timelines if he’s mashing. Chandler is a rotation-ready arm who can rack up innings, strikeouts, and momentum while the lineup figures itself out. 

Yes, it’s only January. But for once, the Pirates aren’t just being talked about as “interesting.” They’re being talked about as award-level interesting for a player not named Paul Skenes — and if Griffin and Chandler even come close to matching the hype, it’s going to get noisy soon in Pittsburgh.