Pirates prospect Bubba Chandler, armed with new outlook and curveball, off to hot start in Altoona

Few people go through high school without navigating some sort of event or experience that becomes impossible to forget.

Like gum stuck on the bottom of your shoe, whatever that teenage situation was, however trivial, it can stay with you for years.

Pittsburgh Pirates pitching prospect Bubba Chandler had good reason to hold onto a particular incident at North Oconee High School in Georgia, given it had a profound impact on his baseball career, both in the moment and years later.

“I used to throw a curveball growing up,” he said. “I threw one to Texas Ranger (and former No. 3 overall pick in the 2022 draft) Kumar Rocker in high school intrasquad, he hit a homer off it and I broke my elbow off of that pitch. I was scared of throwing it these past couple years. … You do something one time, and your elbow snaps, you don’t want to do it again.”

Chandler, drafted by the Pirates in the third round (No. 72 overall) in 2021, begins this season with Double-A Altoona, where he hopes to build on a strong second half to the 2023 campaign, primarily spent at High-A Greensboro.

He has done just that, going 1-0 with a 2.92 ERA through three starts and 12¹⁄₃ innings.

Last time, Bubba Chandler hit 100mph each in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd innings.

He has 15 strikeouts in 12.1IP so far this year, with a ERA at 2.92.

I’ve been long advocating that he is best pitching prospect in the system behind Skenes.

It’s time to pay attention. pic.twitter.com/FWHoNjL0cJ

— Christian✞ (@CWolfPGH) April 19, 2024

While with the Grasshoppers last year, Chandler battled through a challenging start, as his ERA spiked to 6.62 at the end of May. After six more starts in June, it read 6.63.

At that point, Chandler knew that some corrections were in order, starting with his attitude and outlook.

“Last year in Greensboro, I took the approach of, ‘All right, let’s get out of here quick. Let’s just pitch, do what we do,’ ” he said. “Looking into the future, not staying in the moment, you saw what the first half (of the year) at Greensboro was. It was pretty brutal. And then I switched the whole mindset to day by day, pitch by pitch.”

In terms of his on-the-mound approach, Chandler made the decision to begin experimenting with a curveball again.

Initially, he said it was a similar pitch to his slider, albeit about 10 mph slower, but as he continued to work at it, it developed its own distinct form.

“I think the All-Star break last year, a lot of stuff had to change,” Chandler said. “I started throwing it again and trying to throw it, just something that went down. I had something that went up, something that went to the side, but I had nothing that went down. … I threw it joking around in a bullpen (session), and it actually looked pretty good.”

Now, after repetition and a lot of fine-tuning, Chandler is pleased with where his curveball is.

“I feel really comfortable with my curveball,” he said. “Looks really good off the fastball. … It was a metrically terrible pitch, but it got the job done and set up my other pitches really well and now it’s more of a metrically beautiful pitch that’s nice to the eye.”

The changes Chandler made on and off the baseball diamond paid off. Last July, he went 3-0 with a 2.57 ERA for the Grasshoppers, striking out 24 with seven walks in 21 innings.

Then, in August, three of his four starts were quality, with Chandler going 2-1 with a 2.74 ERA that month.

Chandler’s rebound earned him an end-of-season promotion to Altoona, where this year, he has limited batters to a .227 average, striking out 15 with six walks.

Entering his third season of professional baseball, Chandler is armed with a curveball that helps set up his mid- to high-90s fastball.

His last start April 18 against the Bowie Baysox, Chandler touched 100 mph with the fastball.

He also utilizes a slider that serves as one of his most dominant pitches, in addition to a changeup that he recently worked to refine during his time as a non-roster invitee to spring training.

With an enhanced arsenal of pitches, coupled with a more grounded outlook, Chandler turns his attention to working against a new class of opposing batters at the Double-A level.

“Whether I’m here a day or whether I’m here the whole year, I’m not going to be mad about it, sad about it, whatever. Day by day,” he said. “We’ve got a bunch of guys in the clubhouse who have that same mindset, and it’s going to show that we’re ready.”