BRADENTON, Fla. — For the most part, Bubba Chandler works behind closed doors now.
The Pirates’ third-round pick in 2021, Chandler was an exciting prospect for what he could be. He’s a two-way player, with a 0.00 ERA through eight innings pitched this season and hitting .278 through nine games at the plate. Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani continues to set the baseball world on fire with his exploits for the Los Angeles Angels as a two-way player. To say Chandler will become anything close to that would be putting the cart about a mile in front of the horse, but he is the closest thing the Pirates have to Ohtani at the moment.
In part because the Pirates got Chandler, the No. 21-ranked draft prospect in 2021, to sign as a third-rounder and leave a football scholarship to Clemson on the table, the Pirates draft was lauded as somewhat of a heist a year ago. They got catcher Henry Davis first overall, then they signed a bunch of highly ranked prep players who could have gone to college. That, in the estimation of most, was inarguably good value.
Reality is, for 18-year-old high school draft picks, the glitz and the glamour of being a top draft pick fades quickly, and the long road to the majors comes into full view.
So here is Chandler now, huddled with his teammates beneath a tent for protection against the brutal sun Monday in the Florida Complex League. It’s a far cry from his days under the Friday night lights as a three-star quarterback at North Oconee High School in Georgia or what might have been as a Clemson football player. This is a grind, with the potential payoff still years in the future.
“The preparation and practice and stuff, I love that part, just because you’re doing it for yourself and your team. But down here in the complex you get a lot of personal time and trainers and all that stuff,” Chandler said. “Games are what they are. I’m not going to say I hate them, but it’s a little different from last year in high school playing in front of thousands of people to now playing in front of three people. It’s a little weird, but it’s a process.”
You wouldn’t know it watching Chandler. On Monday, he was the designated hitter. While he didn’t play in the field, he remained the most active person on the bench.
When his teammates ran out to their defensive positions, Chandler was often jogging out behind them with a glove, playing catch with the left fielder to warm him up. When defensive innings ended, Chandler always stepped out on the field to high-five each one of them. Prior to his at-bats, he was squatting behind home plate looking at the pitch technology the Pirates have set up for games, using whatever he can to get a read on the opposing pitcher before digging in against him.
“When other people see a teammate getting hype, doing stuff, I feel like it brings the morale of the team up,” Chandler said. “I learned that from football. If I had a voice on the sideline and get the defense hype, and being the quarterback, being the leader, running out there after a big stop, getting everybody hype, getting everybody up, that ignites the other 55 guys on the sideline.”
There aren’t many players in the FCL as highly thought of as Chandler. Even the staff of the Minnesota Twin’ FCL team, lined up Monday against the Pirates team, talked about Chandler’s presence on the field. They talked about the fact that he shirked a chance to play for one of the best college football teams in the country to join the Pirates, and that he’s a two-way player. They laughed calling him the next Oneil Cruz, a comment on the fact that he’s a unicorn at this level — Cruz a 6-foot-7 shortstop, Chandler an uber-athletic pitcher/shortstop/switch-hitter.
Then they noticed a further abnormality. When Chandler ran out to warm up his left fielder, he did so with a glove on his right hand, throwing long toss with his left arm.
Chandler said he hurt his right elbow during his freshman year of high school and couldn’t throw for 18 months. So he started using his left hand and still does from time to time. For the record, he says he can reach 80 mph pitching left-handed and threw a 12-pitch, 3-strikeout inning with it once in high school.
It’s almost like Chandler is competing with himself to see all the different things he can achieve on a baseball field. He has tried everything just to see if he could do it.
For the most part, it has all worked out. He already has hit two homers in his nine games at the plate this season. He says he’s throwing in the mid-90s with his fastball now, and his changeup velocity jumped to 88 mph this season.
The only problem is he’s doing all of this, sticking out as a talented youngster, in a league few people ever watch. His fellow 2021 high school draft pick, left-hander Anthony Solometo, has moved on to low Class A Bradenton. Chandler knows it’s useless to get impatient and that time in the FCL shouldn’t be wasted, but he’s ready to join Solometo and the rest of the rising prospects.
“I feel like [a promotion] has been close for the last few months now,” Chandler said. “It’s not my decision. It’s whoever else’s decision. I’ll be prepared whenever it happens.”
Mike Persak: mpersak@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MikeDPersak.
First Published: June 28, 2022, 2:47 p.m.
