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Perrotto: Bubba Chandler Refuses to Swallow Rat Poison

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Bubba Chandler, Pittsburgh Pirates

Bubba Chandler learned in high school not to pay attention to rankings.



Chandler was a standout quarterback at North Oconee High School in Bogart, Ga., when he received his first scholarship offer from Florida Atlantic. Lane Kiffin was the Owls’ coach at the time before leaving for the University of Mississippi.

“I was a no-star (recruit), then got one offer and then I was a four-star,” Chandler recalled with a smile. “He was like ‘That’s just rat poison, don’t look at that stuff.’”

Chandler’s football days are over. He eventually accepted a scholarship from Clemson before becoming a full-time baseball player when the Pittsburgh Pirates selected him in the third round of the 2021 amateur draft and gave him a $1-million signing bonus.

The 22-year-old right-hander is universally regarded as the Pirates’ top prospect and seems likely to make his major-league debut during the upcoming season. Chandler is also considered among the top prospects in baseball, ranked No. 7 by Baseball America, No. 15 by MLB.com and No. 21 by Baseball Prospectus.

Yet those accolades are just rat poison to Chandler.

“The recognition is really cool, but there’s a lot of guys in our organization that should be there,” Chandler said. “So, I kind of don’t look at it anymore. It’s really cool, recognition is great, you want to be recognized for the hard work you put in, but everyone works just as hard. I don’t really look at it.”

Chandler also has tunnel vision when it comes to reaching the major leagues. He said he has learned not to think about it.

The Pirates plan to have Chander start the season at Triple-A Indianapolis, where he finished last year with a flourish, going 4-0 with a 1.83 ERA in seven starts. He began the year with a 6-7 record and 3.70 ERA in 19 games (16 starts) with Double-A Altoona.

“I stopped thinking about moving up and all that stuff two years ago,” Chandler said. “Once you get that out of your head, you get a little (freer). I don’t necessarily think about it. Like, when I got to Triple-A, I knew I wasn’t gonna come up (to the majors), and I didn’t care at all. We were really good in Indy last year, and everyone kind of wanted to make a playoff push. So that was my focus.

“And then this offseason, it’s in the back of your mind. You want to get to the big leagues, want to succeed and want to win for the city you play for, and that’s kind of when it’s been on my mind.”

The Pirates’ projected season-opening rotation consists of Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Jared Jones, Johan Oviedo and left-hander Bailey Falter.

Yet it is not out of the question that Chandler could make the team with an outstanding showing in spring training. Jones was considered a longshot last spring but wound up on the opening-day roster after not allowing an earned run in 16 innings of Grapefruit League play.

Jones had a solid rookie year with a 6-8 record and a 4.14 ERA in 22 starts. Skenes, of course, had a great first season as he won the National League Rookie of the Year award and finished third in the NL Cy Young voting after going 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 23 starts.

Chandler knows it would be nearly impossible to duplicate Skenes’ performance. Chandler also realizes it would be tough to match Jones’ feat of making the club out of spring training.

“That’s something that doesn’t happen a lot. Jared is that type of guy,” Chandler said. “He’s that type of talented player that has the capability of doing that, and he did it last year. I don’t want to say I want to follow in his footsteps, but that would be awesome. But again, it’s not really on my mind.”

Rat poison is a strong deterrent.

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xyzth

In the modern world of clickbait nonsense, the headline to this article is very well engineered and becomes relevant to anyone who can be bothered to read past the first sentence.

As a Pittsburgh sports fan, I’m just about over the Steelers and looking forward to the Bucs having the best rotation in baseball.

A man can dream…. right?

Last edited 7 days ago by xyzth
john benedict

Skenes elevated every arm in the organization

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