Spring Breakout 2025 observations: Bubba Chandler dominates with his fastball
Pirates lose to Phillies in Spring Breakout 2025
The second annual Spring Breakout is underway, with the Pirates playing the Phillies on Friday and a few more games taking place over the weekend. I was at the Pirates’ game in Clearwater, where they lost 5-3.
It was a slow-starting game, with pitching dominating. The offense got going mainly due to the Phillies' pitching (walks, hits batters).
Pittsburgh put three runs on the board, but only picked up four hits—one went for extra bases.
Here are some observations from the game, and Spring Breakout, in general:
Esmerlyn Valdez started the game in left field, and played pretty well defensively. He moved a lot better, it felt like, than last year, for whatever worth that sample size is. He had a little issue getting a ball off the wall on a Justin Crawford triple, but he was likely heading for three regardless of what happened there.
It looks like he has slimed down a bit, got down first base quickly on an eventual infield single and got an excellent start on what looked like an attempted hit-and-run.
Anthony Solometo had a rough first inning, going hit batter, double, double, strikeout before getting lifted from the game in favor of Nick Dombkowski. Spring rules, so he returned for the fourth inning and looked much better.
That strikeout in his first inning was a good turnaround. As Omar Alfonzo challenged a 3-0 pitch that would have led to a walk, it was overturned, and Solometo ended up with a strikeout.
He threw back-to-back sliders to get whiffs against Carson DeMartini and led the team with five misses.
Richard Ramirez made a nice little adjustment at the plate in the first of his two times in the batter’s box. After missing on a 98 mph fastball, he was able to adjust and barrel up another at the same speed and hit it 103.1 mph off the bat for a flyout. He also drew a walk his second time up, in a key situation.
He’s on the verge of being a prospect to monitor.
Tsung-Che Cheng reached base three times on the day, and represented half of the team’s hits. He was one of four hitters to play the entire game. Both hits are precisely what you want to see from him when he’s on his game.
The first was an infield hit, the second was dropped right in front of an outfielder.
Edward Florentino got an at-bat late, as in the final of the game, striking out to close things out. It was a close at bat that finished when he challenged the original called strike three, but it was upheld.
The moment didn’t seem too big for him, and he hung in there with a pitcher five years older than him. He pitched at Tennessee last year before turning pro.
Yordany De Los Santos and Axiel Plaz combined for one of the better defensive plays on the day. Playing second base, De Los Santos went deep past the bag, sliding and throwing to get the running out while Plaz did the splits.
It wasn’t surprising that De Los Santos made a strong defensive play—he’s one of the smoothest with the glove in the system—but seeing Plaz get out there was impressive.
Bubba Chandler was electric, and a bully. The radar gun at the stadium showed triple-digits multiple times, but it was rounded up. Regardless, he was pumping heat that Phillies’ hitters just couldn’t handle. Three of his four whiffs were from the fastball, getting a miss rate of 50% while averaging 98.8 mph.
This kind of showcase is the type that Chandler can feast on, and he showed why many believe he has one of the best fastballs in all of minor league baseball.
A quick final thought on the Spring Breakout game. I love it. It’s awesome to see so many great prospects come together and show what makes them so highly touted.
I hope this continues. While the teams may not like the idea, it’d be fun to make this a multi-game event. It would take some adjusting since a team already plays twice due to an odd number of teams in Florida and Arizona, but more would still be fun.
The only complaint is that some of the hitters didn’t get into the game. We never saw Wyatt Sanford or Keiner Delgado get into the game. Sanford was the team’s second-round pick in 2024 but never made his official debut last year.
David Matoma, Wilkin Ramos, Eddy Yean, and Khristian Curtis didn’t pitch for the Pirates while three others went more than an inning. I get that maybe it didn’t line up for some of them to pitch, but that’s two straight years Matoma has been on the team, but hasn’t pitched.
Let them all play.
I got some video I’ll be uploading to my YouTube channel next week when I get back home. I didn’t get much on the pitching side, but I did get some good views for the hitters.
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I commented on that play of YDLS behind second base and the split by Axiel Plaz at 1B to shorten the distance of the throw - I know he is also a Catcher - 41 games at A as a Catcher, 31 as a 1B, and I hope they continue that type of defensive play for him as he matures. Cannot understand why they want Endy to just concentrate on Catching rather than play both. Hard to figure these folks - for a Catcher, it is natural reflex to dig balls out of the dirt, and playing at 1B gives them a physical break while still being in the middle of the action, especially if they can be productive with the bat.
One other aspect of the game that was fantastic was the 6,000 fans who showed up to watch these kids. I watched one of the Breakout games in Arizona and they would be lucky if 1,500 people were in attendance. They mentioned on the broadcast of the Phillies/Pirates that both have loyal fans who will travel to see & support their young prospects.
I really enjoyed the game, this year and last year, too. I also like the games, but I like them for their novelty, so I'm not sure I need to see more?
Chandler was dominant. With Falter possibly on the IL, why not give Bubba a spot start?