PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – He is the talk of baseball. Could the Pirates have drafted their own version of Shohei Ohtani?
Third round pick, high school star Bubba Chandler excelled as a pitcher and position player. Could he be both for his professional career?
“We had a lot of conversation with Bubba about that,” said Pirates general manager Ben Cherington. “It’s something that is important to him. He is legitimately talented on both sides. We want to take a look at that. We do believe there’s really big upside as a pitcher.”
“I will never put a governor on any player,” said Pirates Senior Director of Amateur Scouting Joe DelliCarri. “I will stay away from that one, but you never know.”
“Hopefully I can be Bubba Chandler and just go out there and play,” Chandler said. “You never know what is going to happen.”
Ohtani not only started the All-Star Game on Tuesday, but batted first for the American League. The two-way star leads the majors in home runs.
Chandler was 8-1 with a 1.25 ERA with 86 strikeouts in 44.2 innings including a 17-strikeout performance in a playoff game for North Oconee High School in Georgia. The 6’3”, 200 pounder also hit .411 with 12 doubles, 8 home runs, 35 RBI as the shortstop. He was selected first-team All-American as a multi-position athlete.
“I have great confidence in myself whether it’s pitching or hitting,” the 18-year-old Chandler said. “I just haven’t played baseball that much. I played three sports all the way up until this year. I just split four months out of the year to each sport. I have to get used to it now that I’m sticking to one sport.”
Chandler will give up being a quarterback at national power Clemson to sign with the Bucs. Which he confirmed he will do Tuesday.
“We really believe in his potential as a pitcher,” Cherington said. “Super-athletic, strong, really good arm speed. He’s already shown really good stuff. He’s a talented position player too. I do think we will explore that with him, at least initially in pro ball. Give him a chance to play some infield, do some hitting.”
Cherington said he just got through drafting him and hasn’t mapped out how he would split time between positions.
“I got many more years before I’ll be talked about making it to The Show,” Chandler said. “I’m just going to try and develop myself on the farm, both sides of the ball and see what I can do.”