The Pittsburgh Pirates are building something special.
Pittsburgh may not have earned a trip to the playoffs last year, but it wasn’t too far. There was a time during the summer when the Pirates were right in the mix for a postseason berth, but things just didn’t go their way down the stretch. While this is the case, the Pirates have some of the most exciting young talent in baseball and even more on the way.
The Pirates have two of the most exciting young pitchers in baseball in Paul Skenes and Jared Jones. Both should be key pieces for the Pirates for years to come in the rotation. Pittsburgh has another young potential ace who could make the jump to the big leagues in 2025.
Pirates top prospect Bubba Chandler is projected to make his big league debut in 2025 after a 2024 campaign in which he logged a 3.08 ERA across 26 total appearances — including 23 starts — for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians and Double-A Altoona Curve. In Triple-A, Chandler logged a 1.83 ERA in seven starts.
It wouldn’t be shocking to see him in Pittsburgh in 2025 and MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf deemed him as the team’s “prospect to watch.”
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“Some may have wondered about 18 months ago if Chandler was ever going to click as a pro,” Stumpf said. “Now he’s the No. 2 pitching prospect in the game, according to MLB Pipeline. Chandler can pump upper-90s heat and uncork high spin-breaking balls, but it’s his overall development that’s really been impressive over the last year and a half. He tore up Triple-A after a midseason promotion in 2024, so he’s on the Major League radar this season. The only question is: When will he get the call?”
Pittsburgh has a bright future and a three-headed monster in the rotation of Skenes, Jones, and Chandler should be scary for other teams in the National League Central for years to come.
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