The only two Pirates prospects who should be untouchable this offseason

After a disappointing end to 2024, the Pittsburgh Pirates should make some impact trades this offseason. They have some decent prospects they should move, especially when it comes to young pitchers in the system.

As things stand right now, however, the Pirates' consensus two best prospects should be completely off limits. Not only are they two of the best prospects in the game, but there might not be any player on the market this offseason worth moving them for.

The only two Pirates prospects who should be untouchable this offseason

Bubba Chandler

The Pirates took Bubba Chandler as their third-round pick in 2021 and signed him to a big-time, over-slot deal. He showed a ton of promise last season, especially in the second half. But the right-hander took off in 2024, posting outstanding numbers en route to becoming one of the best prospects in the game.

Chandler's season was fantastic, as he put up a 3.08 ERA, 3.10 FIP, and 1.02 WHIP in 119.2 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. He struck out 30.9% of opponents with a walk rate of 8.6%. Chandler was not home run prone either, holding opposing hitters to an HR/9 rate of 0.68. Chandler's numbers were great, but he was outright dominant at Triple-A.

Chandler's final seven starts and 41 innings pitched were at Triple-A Indianapolis, where he had an ERA under 2.00 at 1.78 to go with a 34% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate, and 0.46 HR/9. Hitters couldn't touch Chandler. He induced a whiff rate of 33%. On the rare occasions when batters were able to put wood on the ball against Chandler, it almost never resulted in good contact, as the talented right-hander had just an 85.3 MPH exit velocity and 3.4% barrel rate. 

Chandler hurled upper-90s fastballs through the zone and topped out at 99.3 MPH at Indianapolis. His four-seamer had elite vertical movement with solid horizontal break. Chandler's primary breaking pitch, a slider, sat in the upper 80s with a 32.4% whiff rate. He also threw this pitch with good vertical break. Chandler threw a hard changeup, sitting in the upper 80s, and averaging out with 16.5 inches of horizontal movement. The fourth pitch Chandler will occasionally use is a curveball, but it is his least-used offering. It still induced some decent results, as batters swung and missed at it a third of the time and only managed a 64.3 MPH exit velo against it.

Chandler's outstanding 2024 has put him among the best prospects in baseball. MLB Pipeline ranks him as the 15th-best prospect. Baseball America has him at 21, while FanGraphs has him at 20th. He is the highest-ranked non-Paul Skenes pitching prospect the Pirates have had since Tyler Glasnow, and he's arguably better now than Glasnow was as a prospect since Glasnow still struggled with walks in the upper levels of the minor leagues. You might have to go back to Gerrit Cole to find a non-Skenes Pirates pitching prospect who is more highly touted.

Rarely do you see a consensus top 20 pitching prospect trade as well. The last time anything close to that happened was when the San Diego Padres included Luis Patino in a trade package to the Tampa Bay Rays for Blake Snell. But Snell was fresh off a strong postseason run, having already won one Cy Young just two years prior to getting traded and won one while with the Padres. There's likely no one on the trade market of that caliber.

A case of a top-20 pitching prospect getting traded for a position player was when the Philadelphia Phillies sent Sixto Sanchez along with other players for J.T. Realmuto. Realmuto was coming off back-to-back near-5.0 fWAR seasons. He established himself as the best player at his position. 

But there are other reasons besides him ranking so high and performing well in the upper levels of the minor leagues this year the Pirates should make Chandler one of their few untouchable talents. He has a lot of attributes that could make him an elite talent. Chandler's average release point extension sat at 6.7 feet this year, which added nearly one whole tick of velocity out of the hand. He is an ultra-athletic right-hander as well. The Pirates originally drafted him as a two-way player, and he even played a few games at shortstop very early in his pro career. That athleticism that he displayed at shortstop is starting to translate to the mound. He's gotten his rhythm in check and has steadily improved his command.

Konnor Griffin

The Pirates took high school infielder/outfielder Konnor Griffin with the ninth overall pick in the 2024 draft. Griffin was considered the highest-ceiling prospect in this year's draft class. He's fast, he's powerful, and he has Gold Glove potential at two of the most premium non-catcher positions on the diamond.

Offensively, he has 30/30 potential. Both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline project him to have 60-grade pop. He runs very well and receives a 65 run grade from Pipeline and a 70 grade from BA. The only knock on his game is his hit tool, which projects as average right now. But at just 18, there's not much concern yet.

Griffin was drafted as a shortstop, but he's not limited to just the middle infield. He projects as a plus defensive outfielder as well. His double-plus speed gives him the range to play either shortstop or center field. Griffin's arm can play anywhere in the field. He pitched some during high school, and was hitting the mid-upper-90s on the gun. He has no problem making deep throws from shortstop, or gunning runners out trying to take an extra base from the outfield.

One big reason Griffin is untouchable is that he hasn't even appeared in a professional baseball game yet. The last time anything remotely close to this happened was when the Arizona Diamondbacks traded 2015 first-overall pick Dansby Swanson to the Atlanta Braves in what ended up being a disastrous trade for the Snakes. But Swanson still appeared in 22 games for the D-Backs' Low-A team. It's one thing to trade a top prospect; it's another thing to trade a top prospect who hasn't even played yet.

It also would not make much sense for the Pirates to trade Griffin. They have significantly less position player talent in the system compared to their pitching talent. It would have to take a king's ransom for the Pirates to even consider moving Griffin as of right now. There may not even be a player on the market that could convince the Pirates to trade Griffin. The closest might be Jarren Duran, who is coming off a near seven-WAR season and is still an entire year away from reaching his first year of arbitration. But there have been very few trade rumors surrounding the Boston Red Sox outfielder since the start of the 2024 season, and they're likely not in a rush to move him.

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