Former two-way phenom settling in as pitcher

This story was excerpted from Justice delos Santos’ Pirates Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

For the first time in recent memory, Bubba Chandler was responsible for only one task. He wasn't splitting time between baseball and football. He wasn't splitting time between hitting and pitching. This season, he's had one job: pitch.

In theory, fewer responsibilities should’ve made the 20-year-old’s life easier. For most of this season, that hasn’t been Chandler’s reality. But following a first half defined by struggle, Chandler is finding his way.

“Everything’s kind of coming full circle,” said High-A Greensboro manager Robby Hammock. “The work in between outings is more concentrated, more focused. His prep work has gotten a lot better as far as his planning before his outing. … All that stuff has greatly increased and you’re starting to see it change on the mound.”

The Pirates drafted Chandler in the third round (72nd overall) of the 2021 MLB Draft as a two-way player -- a switch-hitting shortstop, at that -- luring him away from his commitment to play baseball and football at Clemson. Pittsburgh provided the opportunity to hit and pitch in '21 and '22, but prior to this season, Chandler transitioned to pitching full-time.

“I'm a pretty good hitter,” Chandler said in February. “But I see it everywhere, and I hear a lot, that my ceiling is probably higher as a pitcher, which I personally think, probably, that is true.”

In his first full season of pro ball, Chandler the pitcher outpaced Chandler the batter at the Rookie-level Florida Complex League and Single-A Bradenton. As a pitcher, Chandler had a 2.61 ERA with 60 strikeouts across 41 1/3 innings. As a hitter, he had a .713 OPS across 124 plate appearances; with Bradenton, specifically, Chandler had a .574 OPS in 88 plate appearances.

Becoming a unitasker, however, didn’t automatically equate to better results. Chandler pitched well to begin the season, owning a 3.71 ERA with 21 strikeouts across 17 innings in April. The rest of the first half, Chandler had a 7.94 ERA over 45 1/3 innings in 12 starts.

Chandler felt he had a good routine as a two-way player in Bradenton, where he described the amenities as “big league level.” Greensboro, by contrast, was “real Minor League Baseball.”

Early in the season, Chandler’s focus wasn’t on where he was, but where he was trying to go. He described feeling “lost.” Despite his talent, he never felt as confident as he would’ve liked going into a start, a lack of confidence that partially stemmed from an unrefined routine.

“I never really focused on pitching until, really, just this year,” Chandler said. “Hitting’s harder, so I really just focused on the hitting part of it. Whenever my start day came, I was like, ‘Oh hell yeah, time to go pitch.’ I never really worked on anything or whatnot. This year, only having to pitch is the weirdest thing in the world to me. I’ve become more of a pitcher rather than a thrower.”

Added Hammock: “It’s hard for a position-player-hitter-type mind to make the transition into only pitching. Plus, he’s a younger guy. It’s A-ball, but in High-A, it’s a lot tougher than those other levels. It’s a transition. It’s a jump.”

To evolve from thrower to pitcher, Chandler modified his workflow.

As the months have gone on, Chandler has turned his prep work “up to another level.” He’s leaned on Hammock, who played six seasons in the Majors, and pitching coach Fernando Nieve, who pitched four seasons in the big leagues. Chandler also picked the brains of older teammates, some of whom played in college or had more pro ball experience.

Hammock described Chandler’s work between starts as being “more concentrated, more focused.” To Hammock, Chandler possesses a better understanding of how to maximize that time.

“He’s understanding how a throwing program is a chance to develop certain pitches that can be used on the mound. Understanding his body mechanics,” Hammock said. “All of it has evolved from the beginning, as well as his maturity level. Watching him take notes during games, especially nights before starts, and watching the other hitters. He’ll chart the games and he’s gotten more in depth with that; asking questions and watching very closely.”

During the season’s second half, the results are matching the effort. Over his past five starts, Chandler has allowed three earned runs across 25 2/3 innings for a 1.05 ERA. The run prevention is impressive, but Chandler’s three true outcomes stand out. In the first half, Chandler had 11.12 K/9, 5.49 BB/9 and allowed 1.44 HR/9. In the second half, Chandler’s strikeouts are down a bit (9.82 K/9), but he’s slashed his walk (2.45 BB/9) and home run (0.35 HR/9) rates considerably.

On Aug. 4, Chandler tossed seven scoreless innings with six strikeouts and zero walks, the first time in his professional career that he had pitched six innings, let alone seven. For his effort, Chandler was named the South Atlantic League’s Pitcher of the Week.

“I was going back and forth with certain things at the beginning of the year, just trying to find the right fix -- or pretty much a Band-Aid at that time,” Chandler said. “Finally, I told myself, ‘This is what you’re going to do and this is how you’re going to do it for the rest of the year. You’re not going to change anything. This is what you think is going to work, so why not trust in it?’ It’s been working, just finally trusting in myself and trusting in the process of what the Minor Leagues are.”

Chandler wasn’t part of the wave of midseason promotions that transpired throughout the Pirates’ Minor League system. Anthony Solometo went from Greensboro to Double-A Altoona, Jared Jones went from Altoona to Triple-A Indianapolis and Quinn Priester went from Indianapolis to Pittsburgh -- but Chandler remained planted in Greensboro.

Chandler has a couple starts left before Greensboro’s year ends on Sept. 10. He’s seen what happens when other pitchers get hot, and the next couple weeks will tell if Chandler has evolved enough to warrant a promotion before season's end.

Regardless of where he ends his season, Chandler has taken an important step forward as a professional, one that will help him well beyond his time with Greensboro.