Elite fastball carries starter arsenal for Bubba Chandler

A deep dive into how Bubba Chandler attacks hitters with his elite fastball and his (growing) pitch mix.

Photo Credit: Ryan Palencer

After a rough start to the season that included a week stint on the injured list, Bubba Chandler put together a fantastic finish to 2024, emerging as one of the best pitching prospects in the game.

That late-season run included pitching seven games in Triple-A, mainly as a 21-year-old, and dominating that level better than he did in Altoona. In those seven games, Chandler posted a 1.83 ERA, held opponents to a .183 average, and struck out 54 batters in 39.1 innings pitched (34%).

The sky had always seemed the limit for Chandler, who finally put things together, something I touched on last week.

Today, I wanted to dig a little deeper into what he does so well on the mound and why he’s emerged as one of the better prospects in all of baseball.

Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, The Athletic, and ESPN have all released their Top 100 rankings, and he is a Top 20 prospect in each. The Athletic is the low man (19), while Baseball America is the highest (7).