The strength of this Pirates organization currently is, without question, young starting pitching, ranging from Paul Skenes to Jared Jones, Luis Ortiz and more.

There’s more pitching on the way, too, with MLB Pipeline ranking the Pirates as the top farm system for starting pitching, including three right-handers on the Top 100 who finished the year with Triple-A Indianapolis and should be on the Major League radar for next season.

RHP Bubba Chandler

You’d be hard pressed to find a pitching prospect who has improved more from midseason 2023 to right now. Chandler, MLB Pipeline’s No. 15 prospect, initially struggled with making the adjustment from a two-way player to just a pitcher, but once he reevaluated how he wanted the rest of that season to go and found a routine that worked for him, he started to click. Chandler got better as the 2024 season progressed, going 10-7 with a 3.08 ERA on the season, including a 1.83 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 39 1/3 innings with Triple-A Indianapolis.

“Not hitting, it felt like I gave up on certain things,” Chandler said in Spring Training. “Which isn’t true, but in my mind, that’s what I thought. Once I pushed past that, I realized I have a real shot at pitching, it got better.”

Chandler’s four-seamer averaged 96.8 mph in Triple-A, and his slider had a 32.4% whiff rate. Mix in an improving changeup, and he has a Major League arsenal at his disposal already.

RHP Braxton Ashcraft

You’d have a tough time finding many pitchers with better stuff than Ashcraft, the No. 85 overall prospect in the game. He has a high spin slider and curveball (both north of 2,5000 RPM) that can miss bats, his fastball sits at 95 mph and his changeup was playing at times too. He only pitched 73 innings across Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis, but he fanned 77 and posted a 2.84 ERA and 1.07 WHIP.

The concern is his injury history, including recurrent symptoms of right forearm tightness that sidelined him for most of the second half of the season. Some may argue that should put him on a reliever track considering he’s never thrown 75 innings as a professional, but the Pirates want to wait and see first.

“I think first thing is just want to get him feeling good physically and healthy,” Ben general manager Cherington said in September. “He was clearly showing us this year that he could be a Major League starter. I think we felt strongly about that. I think as long as we believe that and see those skills, [we] want to give that every chance to happen.”

RHP Thomas Harrington

Harrington doesn’t have the uber-high velocity fastball like the first two pitchers mentioned, sitting in the low 90s usually. The No. 91 prospect in the game’s success lies with that four-seamer, which plays because it moves (about 17 inches of vertical movement), he has a six-pitch mix to tunnel it off of and his delivery is a bit funky.

“The key is having a pretty unique vertical approach angle, combined with my arm slot, combined with a little bit of deception,” Harrington said in August. “It kind of jumps on the hitters, even at 92.”

Harrington pitched to a 2.61 ERA with 115 strikeouts and a 0.96 WHIP over 117 ⅓ innings across Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis. Like Chandler, he seemed to get stronger as the year progressed too, signaling the 23-year-old righty is still on an upward trajectory.

ON THE RADAR

INF/OF Nick Yorke (No. 6 on Pirates’ Top 30) got a taste of the Majors in September, homering twice and stealing two bases in his 11 games played. ... Right-hander Mike Burrows (No. 16) is heading to the Arizona Fall League to get some more innings after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2023, but he’s already had a taste of the Majors, getting the win at Yankee Stadium in his debut. ... Utilityman Tsung-Che Cheng (No. 18) is already on the 40-man roster, but posted pedestrian results at the plate for Altoona (.218 batting average, 11 home runs, .661 OPS). He has speed, as evidenced by his 17 steals, but he was also caught stealing six times. ... Billy Cook (No. 24) was worth six defensive runs saved in his first month in the Majors, plus had a really solid showing with Indianapolis (five home runs, .875 OPS over 30 games played).