CLEARWATER, Fla. -- In the inaugural Spring Breakout game a year ago, as he was coming out to pitch the ninth inning, Bubba Chandler slammed a Red Bull and declared “let’s do this” before pumping upper-90s heat.
This year, the Pirates’ top prospect got to start the Spring Breakout game Friday at BayCare Ballpark, a 5-3 Bucs loss, and while he brought the heat again, the pregame routine was slightly modified.
“Red Bulls don’t have any milligrams of caffeine, which is good, but I crushed a C4 today,” Chandler said with a grin. “So, yeah, changed it up a little, but it was cool. Starting it is a lot better than closing it, I will say.”
Chandler, the No. 15 prospect in the game according to MLB Pipeline, set the pace for all other top pitching prospects with his performance Friday. After joking with Phillies prospect Justin Crawford pregame that he was going to start with a changeup, he instead opted for five straight fastballs, finishing with a 98.5 mph four-seamer that caught the outer part of the zone for a called third strike. Chandler would end up throwing two perfect innings, striking out four with two ground-ball outs.
It was a showcase of why this 22-year-old right-hander has blossomed into the top young pitcher in this iteration of the Pirates’ pitching development machine. It’s not just because he flirted with triple digits on the radar gun or struck out two Top 100 prospects (Crawford and Eduardo Tait), but also in what we saw in his at-bat against right fielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. in the second inning. With the count full, Chandler didn’t go back to the fastball, but rather wanted to challenge himself and threw a changeup. Rincones froze and Chandler struck him out.
“Just growing as a pitcher, fastballs can get you through levels, but at the same time, in the big leagues, you've got to be able to mix, and that's kind of my thought behind everything," Chandler said. "[At] 3-2, put yourself in an uncomfortable situation. I love my changeup, I can control it pretty well, let's throw it 3-2. And [catcher] Omar [Alfonzo], me and him are on the same page. He called it, I didn't have to shake to it, and then I executed."
Don’t be mistaken, the extra cheddar on his fastball is a big plus too. Chandler threw 11 fastballs at least 98.5 mph, or 99 if you’re into rounding or what flashes up on the screen.
“I’m just really trying to be like Jared Jones,” Chandler said. “But, it was cool. I looked up there, I usually look once an inning just to see where I’m at, just to see if I’m a little sluggish. I looked up there one time and saw it and I’m like, ‘Oh, nice.’”
Chandler tried to be like Jones in another way this spring and try to crack the Opening Day roster. That didn’t happen, as the Pirates reassigned him to Minor League camp on March 6. The Pirates didn’t have enough innings for all of the pitchers they had in camp, and Chandler didn’t make the cut.
That doesn’t at all reflect what the organization thinks about him, and in all likelihood, he’s going to be in the Major Leagues at some point this season.
“My money is on this kid,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said after Chandler was sent down. “He's tough, he's resilient. He takes challenges and he's going to be a really good Major League pitcher."
Friday was a small taste of what he can do in those situations and perform against the best of his contemporaries. A year ago, he was closing out a Spring Breakout game that Paul Skenes started. The two are close and work out together in the offseason, and he’s been the team’s top prospect ever since Skenes graduated, following in his footsteps.
“Having to follow a guy like Paul is, I won't say tough, but I think I can do it,” Chandler said.
Other notable performances Friday include:
Omar Alfonzo: The Pirates' No. 19 prospect went 1-for-3 with a double and a run, and the starting catcher crushed the ball each of his three times to the plate, registering exit velocities of 108.6 mph, 106.5 mph and 104.2 mph.
Tsung-Che Cheng: The Bucs' No. 17 prospect went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI single in the fifth inning that put the Pirates on the board.
Hunter Barco: The club's No. 7 prospect struck out one over two innings of one-run ball. The southpaw touched 97 mph on the radar gun and got five called strikes with his sinker.