PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – There is a chance that top pitching prospect Bubba Chandler still gets a start in the majors this year even though he’s beginning in the bullpen. It just won’t be given to him even with what he’s done in the minors.
“He can earn it,” Pirates GM Ben Cherington said Sunday. “It’s not going to be guaranteed. We were open to him that this is the role now. Doesn’t mean you can’t earn starts at some point. That could be September or whenever. We will let Donny (Kelly) guide that going forward.”
It’s a mindset Cherington said they are keeping all of the young pitchers in to where they have to earn opportunities. He said on 93.7 The Fan last week only Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller have secured rotation positions. That leaves Chandler battling with Braxton Ashcraft, Mike Burrows, Johan Oviedo and potentially Carmen Mlodzinski.
“When it’s their turn to pitch, get outs, get as many outs as you can until Donny comes and takes the ball away from you,” Cherington said. “Help the team win and we’ll plan for the next one.”
The thought all along was for Chandler to come up and start, until they devised this plan for their young arms. Even with the strong start to his AAA season, there were some bumps in the road and Cherington said they had to stop waiting for the perfect time to call him up and just see what he could do. He admitted there were some issues Chandler went through in waiting to reach the majors, but in the end Cherington feels it will be good long-term for Bubba to deal with some adversity.
Chandler worked four scoreless in his debut, Cherington was pleased how he worked back in the strike zone when he lost it a few times. He enjoyed seeing the emotion, passion and joy for competition that Chandler pitched with Friday. They’ve know it since he signed, but it was great to see him on a major league field.
“Obviously excited with what he did on Friday,” Cherington said. “He’s going to get another turn here soon. See where it goes from that.”
Johan Oviedo
In assessing the potential rotation for 2026, there is an advantage for righthander Johan Oviedo as he is back from Tommy John surgery and then the lat injury.
“Johan's already had a full year as a starting pitcher on his resume and a good one,” Cherington said. “I think we value that as important. He's worked really hard to come back from Tommy John. I think we saw a different pitcher on Wednesday against the Blue Jays. I think we saw a pitcher whose stuff was actually a little better than it was before the injury. We saw a pitcher who was in the zone pretty much from strike one.”
“He's worked really hard and we want to keep running him out there and give him some runway as a starter to go into this offseason.”