A Late-Season Conversation With Bubba Chandler

Bubba Chandler has a bright future. Currently ranked fifth on our Top 100 — he remains rookie-eligible — the 23-year-old right-hander broke into the big leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates in late August and showed why he is one of the game’s top pitching prospects. Featuring a fastball that averaged 98.9 mph, Chandler fashioned a 4.02 ERA, a 2.66 FIP, and a 25% strikeout rate over 31 1/3 innings. Five of his seven outings were stellar. Bookending back-to-back bumpy efforts against the Brewers and Dodgers, he allowed just 10 hits and two runs over 24 2/3 frames, fanning 25 batters and issuing a lone free pass along the way. At his best, the 2021 third-round pick out of Bogart, Georgia’s North Oconee High School was flat out dominant.

Back in February, the personable flamethrower was featured here during our annual Prospect Week in an interview titled “Bubba Chandler Addresses His Power Arsenal.” We heard from him again in early September, that time learning why he is done playing catch with Paul Skenes. Today, we’ll hear from him on his initial impressions of pitching in the majors. Our conversation took place as the calendar was turning to September.

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David Laurila: What have you learned since getting called up from Triple-A?

Bubba Chandler: “I don’t want to say the game is harder, but it is definitely a lot more thinking. Pitch-to-pitch thinking goes into it. Something I’ve learned is that at each level you go up, the less and less mistakes you can make. Up here, I’ve made a couple of mistake pitches that were hit pretty hard, whereas in Triple-A they might have gotten fouled off. So it’s kind of, how many mistakes can I limit myself to in a game? They’re going to happen, but when are they going to happen? Are they going to happen with guys on base? Are they going to happen with no one on base? Stuff like that.”

Laurila: Are mistake pitches mostly a matter of command and location?

Chandler: “Yes. If you perfectly command the ball every pitch, you’re going to get good results pretty much. Right? At the same time, these are big league hitters. If you execute a fastball at the very top right corner, or the top left corner of the strike zone at 100 miles an hour, they can still hit a line drive back side. That’s the beauty of how hard this game is.

“With each batter, you have to be lined up with what you’re trying to do. If the lane to the hitter is outside, you better stay outside. You can pop them inside once in a while to keep them off the dish, try to make sure they don’t know you’re trying to go outside with ball — whatever it might be — but you have to be smart about it. It is a mind game when you’re out there on the mound.”

Laurila: And it’s different at this level than it is in the minors?

Chandler: “Yes. It’s taken to another level when you go from Triple-A to here. Everything means a lot more. The main thing is trying to win the game, so it’s harder from a mental standpoint. My first few outings I hadn’t thrown a lot of pitches when I came out of the game, but I was more drained mentally than I had been throwing 100 pitches in Triple-A. There is that mental warfare that goes on when you’re on the mound. You know that you’re not going to be perfect, but how good can you be on this one pitch, right here, right now? That’s something I feel I’ve done a pretty good job of so far. So, it’s more challenging, but that’s something that’s actually really cool.”

Laurila: While the game hasn’t necessarily been speeding up on you, do you feel that the “mental warfare” will become easier as you get more acclimated to facing big league hitters?

Chandler: “Yes and no. I’m going to get more comfortable, but it’s really just about being confident with each pitch. Every pitcher up here has really good stuff, and I think the difference is how you do the little things on the mound. That includes command. It’s like being a quarterback. You pretty much decide if you’re going to win that game or not when you’re a quarterback. You can actually take over the game, whereas an offensive lineman can’t take over the game. A third baseman can’t take over the game as much as a pitcher can. That’s something else that’s really cool.”

Laurila: How are you balancing being a power pitcher — attacking with the nastiest stuff possible — versus commanding the baseball and pitching to hitters’ weaknesses?

Chandler: “Giving guys too much credit and trying to make my stuff nastier, or trying to be perfect, is something I kind of battled my first few outings. Hitters have a plan, and if you beat their approach — if you beat their plan — you’re going to win the majority of the time. The X’s and O’s of the game matter, which is something I grew up on playing football. I enjoy that part of it.

“I’ll sacrifice some stuff — I’ll call it my ‘Pitching Ninja’ — to get an out. I’ll sacrifice a nasty pitch to instead dot up a pitch where a hitter doesn’t like the ball. Maybe he doesn’t like fastballs away, so I’m going to throw fastballs away. He probably won’t swing until he has two strikes, because he’s bought in with his plan. You need to recognize what they want to do, and part of that is doing your homework every day.”

Laurila: So scouting reports are important to you…

Chandler: “Definitely. What does a hitter like to do in his first at-bat? Does he like to swing early, or does he take the first pitch? What about his second at-bat? As I spend more time up here, I’ll also get a better feel of things like how to approach inning one versus inning six. You have to pick and choose. For instance, this guy isn’t going to see my out-pitch until his third at-bat, or he isn’t going to see it unless there are men on base. How can you minimize damage, and how can you limit damage as the game goes on? Stuff like that is a big key to pitching, especially when you reach this level.”