Live From Greensboro: Bubba Chandler Works Through Trouble, Shows Potential

Chandler strikes out four across five, one-run innings to get the win for the Grasshoppers.

Saturday night was like the main event of my stay in Greensboro. In one game, Termarr Johnson, Wyatt Langford, and Bubba Chandler would all play in what was MLB TVs Free Game of The Day as well.

I planned my trip around the hopes of getting to see Chandler pitch, wanting to see as many of the top arms in the system as possible, already seeing Jared Jones earlier in the year.

He didn’t disappoint.

I didn’t get a chance to talk to Bubba during my trip, but did with manager Robby Hammock, and the righty was one of the topics. I’ll go into details in an upcoming feature, but it was interesting hearing what he had to say and then watching Chandler pitch the next night.

This hasn’t been an easy year for Chandler, as a lot has been dumped on him. He’s 20-years-old pitching in an advanced league for his age, and is trying to be a full-time pitcher for the first time in his life.

But he just keeps on chugging along.

Fast forward to Saturday night, He allowed the first two runners in the second to reach base, and worked around to get out of the inning without allowing a run.

Then in the fifth inning, he allowed a home run, a base hit and then two balls in a matter of four pitches to three different hitters.

His next five pitches were - 96 (whiff), 97 (whiff), 96, 97, 90 (change up) for a ground out to get out of the inning.

Solid resilience from a 20-year-old kid who has basically been winging it this year in a league he’s three years younger than the average pitcher.

The Stuff

I mentioned him bringing the heat with the fastball in the fifth, towards the end of his start, which showed he was still bringing it later in games, a key for any starter.

In fact, it almost seemed like he was pacing himself, as his first fastball was 93 mph, eventually dialing it up to 97 by the end of the first frame.

He was able to locate the fastball all over the zone, and of course was able to elevate it to get some hitters to chase. I wasn’t able to get radar readings during the third and fourth, but it picked back up in the fifth, where he was still reaching 96/97 on several occasions.

The change up is a pitch I have continually grown to appreciate, and in person it looked even better, mainly due to his arm action. There is nearly zero drop off in arm speed between the fastball and change up, and it gets some late fade away from lefties.

He used it effectively to induce a ground ball that ended his night, and even threw it for a called strike.

His slider showed promise, although it was the pitch that he allowed a home run off of it. I’d say at the moment it’s the least polished of his three pitches, but even then it’s a strong offering that he was able to rely on to get outs.

Final Word

The hype around Chandler is legit, and while I didn’t have to be there to really believe, seeing it did help cement it all.

One of the first big features on this site was a breakdown on options who might be considered the second best pitching prospect behind Paul Skenes, with Chandler being more of a wild card at the time.

With how he’s finished the season, I think there could be a legitimate conversation on just where he actually stands among the rest of the pitching prospects.

Ryan Harbin

The righty played strong in Bradenton, eventually earning a promotion to Greensboro, where he’s struggled a bit so far, but looked good in his two innings of work Saturday.

Mainly a sinker/slider guy, he struck out the side in the eighth inning - his first in the game. He sat around 93/94 with the sinker, and as you can see from the video, it produced some good run there at the end.

Up Next

I head back Sunday morning, if Greensboro didn’t play at 6:30 pm, I would have stayed for the last game as well.

Got a lot of work to do when I get back, with some fun stuff going to be coming out over the next week or so.

Derek Diamond will make the start on Sunday, which is also the last home game of the season for the Grasshoppers.