Pirates top prospect Bubba Chandler dazzles with 4 Ks in Spring Breakout loss to Phillies

Pittsburgh Pirates top prospect Bubba Chandler came out throwing heat against the Philadelphia Phillies, firing four-seam fastballs on five straight pitches for the first of four strikeouts in a pair of perfect innings.

It was the second consecutive year that a flamethrowing right-hander delivered a dominant start in the Spring Breakout, as Chandler’s performance was reminiscent of how 2024 NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes shined against the Baltimore Orioles in the inaugural event.

Carson DeMartini broke a tie score with a solo home run in the seventh inning, and the Phillies escaped a bases-loaded situation in the ninth to pull off a 5-3 win over the Pirates on Friday afternoon before 6,347 at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Fla.

Unhittable stuff from Bubba Chandler #SpringBreakout ????‍???? pic.twitter.com/raCXNWYstt

— MLB (@MLB) March 14, 2025

MLB Pipeline ranks the Pirates 14th and the Phillies 17th among baseball’s farm systems. The Phillies have three top-100 prospects but played without their No. 1 prospect, 21-year-old right-handed pitcher Andrew Painter, who is ranked No. 8 overall. The Pirates scratched their No. 4 prospect, 20-year-old second baseman Termarr Johnson, with a left foot bone bruise hours before the game.

A year ago, the Spring Breakout matched the Pirates against both the top farm system and No. 1 prospect in baseball, Jackson Holliday, only to see Skenes steal the show. It started with a knee-buckling strikeout of Holliday, as Skenes topped triple digits on six of his first seven pitches and threw strikes on eight of his first 11 in a perfect first inning in the 3-1 win.

Where Skenes was the 2023 No. 1 overall pick and MLB Pipeline’s No. 3 prospect when he faced the Orioles in the first Spring Breakout event, Chandler is ranked No. 7 by Baseball America and No. 15 by MLB Pipeline. Chandler, 22, was a third-round pick in 2021 out of North Oconee High School in Bogart, Ga., skipping a scholarship to play quarterback at Clemson to sign for an above-slot bonus of $3 million.

Like Skenes, Chandler appears ticketed to start the season at Triple-A Indianapolis, where he went 4-0 with a 1.83 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and averaged 12.4 strikeouts per nine innings in seven starts last year after being promoted in early August. Chandler and lefty Hunter Barco were reassigned to minor-league camp March 6 in the first cuts of camp.

Bubba Chandler throwing ???? in a perfect first frame of the @Pirates' Spring Breakout game.

MLB's No. 15 prospect hits north of 98 mph with four pitches to fan Phillies prospect Justin Crawford (MLB No. 63).

Watch LIVE: https://t.co/iLHvJZbJze pic.twitter.com/Rer1thhRnR

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) March 14, 2025

Chandler faced six batters, including five of the Phillies’ top-10 prospects: shortstop Aidan Miller (No. 2), center fielder Justin Crawford (No. 3), catcher Eduardo Tait (No. 4), left fielder Dante Nori and right fielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. (No. 10).

In throwing 19 of his 30 pitches for strikes, Chandler averaged 98.5 mph on 16 four-seamers, topped 99 mph six times and maxed out at 99.9. He also threw eight sinkers, three cutters, two sliders and a curveball.

In the first inning, Chandler worked a 2-2 count against Crawford before he went down looking at a called third strike on a 98.5-mph fastball. He started mixing pitches against Nori, starting out with a slider, followed by called strikes on back-to-back fastballs of 99.6 and 99.7 mph, two fouls on sinkers, a 99.6-mph fastball and inducing a groundout on another sinker. Chandler followed a pair of cutters with two fastballs, the second one touching 99 and inducing a dribbler to first.

Bubba Chandler painting in a 3-2 count for his 2nd strikeout of the afternoon pic.twitter.com/BP5QcWjEyc

— Platinum Ke’Bryan (@PlatinumKey13) March 14, 2025

The Phillies struggled to get their bats on Chandler’s pitches as he struck out the side in the second inning. He got Rincones looking at a full-count sinker, Tait swinging at a 1-2 cutter and No. 23 prospect Otto Kemp swinging at a 95.5-mph fastball to finish his outing.

Lefty Anthony Solometo, a 2021 second-round pick, didn’t fare as well. He hit the first batter, Carson DeMartini, with a pitch then gave up back-to-back RBI doubles to Devin Saltiban and Aroon Escobar as the Phillies took a 2-0 lead in the third inning.

The Pirates cut their deficit in half in the fifth, when second baseman Mitch Jebb drew a leadoff walk against Mavis Graves, advanced to second when first baseman Tony Blanco Jr. was hit by a pitch, stole third base and scored on a single by shortstop Tsung-Che Cheng.

The Phillies went up 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth when Crawford hit a two-out triple and scored on Barco’s wild pitch. The Pirates tied the score against Griff McGarry in the sixth, sparked by a leadoff double by catcher Omar Alfonzo, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when Esmerlyn Valdez reached on a fielder’s choice to second. Designated hitter Jhonny Severino drew a walk, went to second on the fielder’s choice, reached third on a passed ball and scored when pinch hitter Axiel Plaz was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Wilber Dotel replaced Barco in the seventh and surrendered a solo home run to DeMartini, as the 22-year-old infielder hit a 385-foot shot to center to give the Phillies a 4-3 lead. Rincones hit a two-out double off Jaden Woods, then scored on an Alirio Ferrebus single to extend the Phillies’ lead to 5-3 in the eighth inning.

The Pirates loaded the bases in the top of the ninth, when Cheng singled and Jack Brannigan and Richard Ramirez drew two-out walks. But Phillies right-hander Aaron Combs escaped by getting 18-year-old Edward Florentino looking at a called third strike with a curveball at the top of the zone, then won the automated ball-strike challenge to win the game.