Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Bubba Chandler had a tough assignment upon entering Major League Baseball last year. He was tagged as “the next big thing” in the franchise’s starting rotation.
Unfortunately for him, the most recent “big thing” was still in the rotation, and he had just recently established himself as a pretty big hit.
That was Paul Skenes. He was en route to a Cy Young award in 2025 after winning National League Rookie of the Year in 2024. So any introduction to the big leagues was going to immediately be compared to Skenes’ instant success.
Unfortunately, whatever Skenes was able to bottle immediately upon his arrival in Pittsburgh, Chandler is still trying to discover.
It’s not talent or stuff. Chandler is fine in those areas. For the most part, two of those issues have been control and consistency.
Chandler’s latest outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks featured six walks in five innings en route to a 9-0 loss Tuesday night. He has fallen to 1-4 with a 4.76 ERA and leads MLB pitchers with 26 walks.
“I’m a Major League Baseball player. I should learn after each pitch, and definitely each outing,” Chandler said postgame on SportsNet Pittsburgh. “There are variables to it. But I’m ready, and I’m prepared for this level. It’s going to be better in a couple of places, and once I can do that, I’ll start rolling.”
Oddly, Chandler was getting ahead of hitters, then letting them off the hook. His strike percentage on first pitches to the Diamondbacks was at 73%.
“There have been a couple of outings where that (stat) has been really good, and they’ve been bad outings,” Chandler said of his first-pitch strikes. “We’ve gone 0-1. We’ve quickly gone 1-1 and back to 2-1. I think a couple times (Tuesday) that happened, but limited damage — just stuff I wish I would have done a little differently out there.”
To his point, though, Chandler fought through the control issues, allowing only two hits and two earned runs. The 23-year-old right-hander lasted five innings and threw 92 pitches. That drew the praise of acting manager Kristopher Negron, who was filling in for the suspended Don Kelly on Tuesday night.
“I was really proud of him, of the way he battled back. That first inning got out of hand a little bit and away from him. But he only gave up two hits,” Negron said. “A few more walks after that, but for the most part, an unbelievable job grinding through and getting through five innings.”
Chandler also deserves praise for redirecting blame onto himself after a question about how Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds seemed to have some miscommunication in the outfield, allowing a ball to drop in the first inning. The swing from Ildemaro Vargas went for a double and gave Arizona its second run of the inning.
Is it too early to start an All-Star campaign? pic.twitter.com/WcLxii9PcT
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) May 6, 2026
“I gave up the ball in the air. Don’t do that,” he said. “There’s no reason the (five) hole should be having an at-bat in the first. Plain and simple. I shouldn’t walk (Corbin) Carroll at 0-2. It’s pathetic.”
Chandler got the backs of teammates, which they didn’t do for him. Not just in the field but at the plate as well. Chandler could’ve gone out and dominated, and it wouldn’t have mattered. The Bucco bats were inept against Arizona pitching, finishing the night with no runs and two hits.
Eduardo Rodriguez lowered his ERA to 2.50 with seven innings of shutout baseball, striking out seven and walking three along the way.
Eduard0Rodriguez
7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K pic.twitter.com/ayj0qWUERl
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) May 6, 2026
“Rodriguez filled up the zone,” Negron said. “After a couple of long innings, he came in and was pounding in. First-pitch strikes, working ahead. He stayed out of the middle. Cheers to him. He did a really good job.”
It wasn’t long ago that Chandler was excellent, allowing one run and one walk in six innings on the way to a 5-1 win over Tampa Bay.
The next big thing for “the next big thing” is tapping into what worked that night and repeating it on a regular basis.