PITTSBURGH — (AP) — The Pittsburgh Pirates have decided to promote 22-year-old right-hander Bubba Chandler — baseball’s top pitching prospect — ahead of their game Friday against the Colorado Rockies.
Pirates manager Don Kelly said he's excited to add Chandler to a staff that already includes 2024 NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes.
"He's going to have an opportunity to earn starts like all of our guys have," Kelly said following a 2-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday. "Just excited to add him and his stuff. He's going to add a lot to the ballclub."
Chandler is expected to initially work in a bulk bullpen role. He got off to a hot start in Triple-A this year, but has stumbled lately and is currently 5-6 with a 4.05 ERA in 100 innings pitched this year for Indianapolis.
Braxton Ashcraft, a 25-year-old rookie right-hander, was used in a similar fashion after being promoted May 26. He is 3-2 with a 3.02 ERA in 19 games (three starts).
“Just getting him up here in the big leagues and getting him in that role,” Kelly said. “You saw Ashcraft really thrive in it. He got his feet wet in the bullpen, had some really big outings. ... He's bounced around, done some different things, starting and being in the pen. To have (Chandler) in a situation like that, can go out in the pen and work on things at the big league level and be here to learn from the guys up here, and learn from the staff, the players and get feedback from major league meetings. It's really, really important for him and for us.”
Chandler, like Ashcraft, will land in the starting rotation at some point. Ashcraft has started in his last two appearances, allowing two runs and six hits in a combined 8 1/3 innings.
“For me, I think it made me a better pitcher,” Ashcraft said. "And will continue to make me a better pitcher because it's different. You grow up doing one thing your entire life and the game kind of falls into some sort of, like, just monotony. And having something like that where you come in, you're forced to be in a different role, something that's unfamiliar, you respond one of two ways — you compete your tail off or you don't.
“Knowing Bubba, knowing the person that he is, like, he's an unbelievable competitor. I have no doubt in my mind that it'll be good for him.”
The Pirates have been careful with Chandler's workload since he moved to pitching full-time ahead of the 2023 season after being projected as a two-way player when he was drafted in 2021. Chandler saw time at shortstop and as a designated hitter early in his minor league career but struggled at the plate, hitting just .184 with Class-A Greensboro in 2022.
Asked in February if he missed hitting, Chandler joked he learned in the minors that for a position player, he's a pretty good pitcher.
And potentially a very good one. Yet Pittsburgh has been cautious in bringing Chandler along. He pitched 106 innings in 2023 and 119 innings last season.
Chandler got off to a scorching start at Triple-A this spring, posting a 1.33 ERA in April and a 2.54 ERA in May. Pirates general manager Ben Cherington, however, had been hesitant to promote Chandler, citing his relative inexperience as opposed to Skenes, who had a standout career at LSU before the Pirates called him up in May 2024.
Chandler's effectiveness has waned of late. He went 0-2 with a 7.50 ERA in three starts this month for Indianapolis.
Yet with Pittsburgh heading for a last-place finish in the NL Central, Chandler will get an extended audition in the majors as the club points toward 2026.
“He's an extreme competitor,” Ashcraft said. “He did the same type of stuff that I grew up doing — playing football and baseball, and any other sport you can get your hands on. What that boils down to is just enjoying to compete and he'll excel in any opportunity he has to do that.”
The top of the Pirates’ rotation for next year appears to be set with Skenes and Mitch Keller. The other three spots are a question mark at the moment, with Jared Jones (who has missed all season after having Tommy John surgery), Mike Burrows, Ashcraft and Johan Oviedo (who made his second start on Wednesday after having Tommy John surgery of his own in late 2023), all in the mix.
Chandler can join them with a solid showing, with the club likely looking for chances to put him in low-leverage situations. In that way, having him available for a weekend series against MLB-worst Colorado makes sense.
“It's fun to see everybody kind of get here to the big leagues, for the most part, excluding a few guys, for now,” Ashcraft said. “But yeah, like, it's a cool thing to be able to step into a clubhouse knowing you're going to be with guys that have helped you get to this point, directly. Just excited to see what next year and the following years after that have to bring to us and to Pittsburgh.”
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AP freelance writer Wes Crosby contributed to this report.
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