FIVE YEARS AGO, Bubba Chandler—the 6-foot-3-inch right-handed pitcher for the Indianapolis Indians—was slotted to audition to become Dabo Swinney’s quarterback at Clemson, but that was before the Pittsburgh Pirates selected him in the third round of the 2021 MLB draft and offered him a signing bonus that was reportedly in the range of $3 million.
Now, the MLB lists Chandler—whose fastball clocks in the upper 90s and is known to hit 100 from time to time—as the second-best baseball prospect in the minor leagues and the best pitcher. You don’t have to go very far down the rabbit hole online before you find people clamoring for the Pirates—currently in last place in the NL Central—to call up Chandler.
“I talk to about five people,” Chandler says about his way of dealing with the noise. And then he lists them off: “My girlfriend, my parents, grandparents, and my buddies. That’s about it, so I don’t really go on social media a whole lot.”
The noise can go either way, of course. In Chandler’s last June start, Omaha Storm Chasers lead-off hitter Dairon Blanco lifted a line drive that caromed off the left field wall before some fans had even sat down for the game. Chandler then walked two of the next three hitters to load the bases. The start of that game was noteworthy precisely because it hasn’t exactly been an anomaly lately. In five June starts, Chandler hasn’t gone deeper into a game than four innings.
“He’s pressing a little bit, right?” says the Indians’ 40-year-old Canadian manager Shawn Bowman, who’s only been in the role since mid-May. “He sniffs the big leagues. He knows where he’s at. He knows where he stands. He’s had success throughout the whole year, had early success, and so naturally, thoughts come into your mind. … It’s just a natural thing that everyone goes through.”
When Chandler is asked what he was thinking after loading the bases with just one out to start that game against Omaha, he shows unusual candor: “Don’t walk him, and [then] I walk him. … I start thinking too much rather than just saying, ‘Hey, you know, hitting’s hard. Throw it down the middle.’”
Indeed, Chandler did walk in a run before the Indians got a second out, but what he doesn’t say is how he settled down and struck out the next two batters to limit the damage.
If Chandler was looking for any perspective, he may have found it a couple of nights before his start. He was treated to something of a viewing party for the opposing pitcher, a guy by the name of Rich Hill. Yes, that Rich Hill, who started his career with the Chicago Cubs and has since pitched for 12 other MLB clubs. Hill is 45 years old, pitching on a minor league contract, and is now the oldest pitcher to ever win a start at Victory Field. The Indians lost that day with a final score of 17-2 while Hill went six innings and only gave up two hits.
“That was really cool, you know?” Chandler says. “I think I was out there every inning when he was pitching.”
It is part of Bowman’s job to be the guy who communicates to players who are getting sent to Pittsburgh to play in the majors. “It gives me goosebumps thinking about it,” Bowman says, “just because that’s the dream for every player, especially if it’s their first time. Even if it’s not their first time, you get to see obviously the emotion and joy from people. … That is not just, ‘You’re going to the big leagues.’ It represents a lot of body of work for that person and that human.”
As it stands, Bowman is also managing a team that will head into the second half of its season with postseason goals (they’ll need to win the league outright) after finishing second in the International League West during the first half. The team is stacked with guys who have been where Chandler now stands.
Though infielder/outfielder Nick Solak plays different positions than Chandler, Chandler could do a lot worse than observing his approach. The 30-year-old Solak has played plenty at the next level up and been a part of eight different MLB organizations. Acutely aware that the toll of all that geographic hopping around has an impact on more than just himself, Solak is married and has a daughter by now.
Even so, Solak chooses to see it all mostly as a positive.
“There’s a lot of places along the way that I wouldn’t have seen,” he says. “When I was with the Rays in Double-A. I lived in Montgomery, Alabama. I would have never if it weren’t for this baseball life.”
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Solak is also hitting .370, is second on the team in home runs hit, and is easily tops on the team in on-base percentage. With numbers like that, it’s going to be hard to prevent him from his next shot in the majors—with the Pirates or with a contender in need of a hot bat.
