Bubba Chandler is here! And, unfortunately, after all this time, it may not actually matter for Fantasy.
The Pirates are finally – finally! – calling up their top prospect, arguably the top pitching prospect in all of baseball. In late August, about four months after the Pirates’ already slim playoff hopes died, and similarly about four months after basically any other team actually trying to win games would have called him up.
If you can remember that far back, Chandler looked like a candidate to break camp with the Pirates. He had already handled Double-A and showed no trouble with Triple-A a year ago, putting up a 1.83 ERA and 33.9% strikeout rate as a 21-year-old over seven starts in a late-season promotion. But they slow-played him this spring to manage his workload, so an Opening Day promotion was taken off the table. But surely, we’d see him before the summer, right – perhaps on the same timetable as the organization’s last dominant pitching prospect, Paul Skenes, who made his MLB debut in early May of 2024.
Well, there was Chandler, sitting on a 1.91 ERA and 37.4% strikeout rate through his first eight starts … and the call never came. He finished the first half of the season with a 2.82 ERA and 29.9% strikeout rate … and still, the call never came. It got to the point where the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that multiple players on the Pirates MLB roster contacted Chandler to apologize for the organization’s unwillingness to promote him.
What’s curious about the decision to promote Chandler now is that it comes at a point when he has actually looked overwhelmed. In six starts since the All-Star break, his strikeout rate is down to 21.4% and he has a 7.43 ERA and 1.99 WHIP. The Pirates didn’t call him up when they had some faint semblance of hope to compete early on, and they didn’t call him up when Chandler was dominating the minors and they could guarantee an extra year of club control. Instead, they call him up when he appears as lost as he’s ever looked?
And, unfortunately, Chandler seems unlikely to matter much for Fantasy now that he’s actually here. Not just or even primarily because of his recent struggles, but because of his projected role; the Pirates are promoting Chandler Friday to the active roster, but will be limited to a bulk relief role out of the bullpen, with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noting only that he will have “an opportunity to start games for the Pirates in 2025.”
Yay.
I don’t hold Chandler’s struggles late in the season against him, to be clear. The Pirates made it clear that there was simply nothing he could do to earn a promotion on his merits, and Chandler made his frustration with that public recently. You want players to be professional in all circumstances, but you also want organizations to put them in positions where they feel valued and feel like they have clear goals they can work towards, and the Pirates clearly failed Chandler in that regard. He ended up making 31 career starts at Triple-A before earning his first promotion to the big leagues, while most top prospect pitchers are called much earlier than that – top-50 pitching prospects over the past three seasons have averaged 8.7 starts at Triple-A before their debuts, not counting Chandler.
Chandler still has impact potential, and maybe he’ll make a few appearances as a reliever before being cleared to join the rotation, where he can make an impact in Fantasy down the stretch. But it’s no longer the modal outcome at this point, and the Pirates deserve a lot of criticism for that. If you’ve been stashing Chandler all along, keep him around and see if he can turn out a best-case scenario, forcing his way into the rotation quickly enough that he’s worth the roster spot.
But why would we give the Pirates the benefit of the doubt that they’re going to do that anytime soon? They haven’t earned it, and with playoff positioning, playoff matchups, or your championship hopes depending on it, Chandler no longer looks like the must-add Fantasy asset we expected.
Here’s what else you need to know about from Tuesday’s action around MLB:
We learned Wednesday evening that Tucker has apparently been playing through a broken hand since June. The injury originally happened on June 1 while sliding into second base and was diagnosed as a jammed finger, but subsequent testing showed a fracture where the ring and pinkie finger meet. Tucker’s production didn’t immediately fall off, but by July – and since – he was a shell of himself.
Tucker is hitting .189 with four extra-base hits since July, and he was recently given a few days off to try to get right. What isn’t clear is whether the hand injury is still bothering him. I guess it depends on who you ask.
Tucker said “I’m fine” Tuesday when asked, but team president Jed Hoyer had this to say: “There’s no question that when you look at his numbers, it’s had an impact on him for sure.”
Maybe the days off will get Tucker right, but what’s not clear from the report is whether Tucker’s injury has ever healed. Tucker’s desire to play through injury with his new team, ahead of his first free agency period – and after missing much of last season, ironically, with a mishandled shin fracture – is understandable. But he’s been a drag on the Cubs lineup and Fantasy lineups for half the season now, and it’s not at all clear if he’s likely to be any better moving forward.
I’m still probably starting Tucker when he’s back in the lineup, but this is a tough situation, and I wouldn’t blame any Fantasy player for setting him on the bench until we finally see signs of life from him. It’s been long enough that I can’t argue against that, much as I would like to.
Thursday’s top waiver-wire targets
Jacob Misiorowski, SP, Brewers (95%) – We’re usually focused on players to add here, but I think it’s worth taking a moment to ponder whether Misiorowski is worth rostering after a couple of poor showings. It’s just two, his first two back from injury, but it’s also worth keeping in mind that his success at the MLB level constitutes just seven starts, three of which lasted four or fewer innings. Misiorowski struggled with his command Wednesday against the Cubs, walking three and allowing three earned runs over four innings of work, and he now has six walks, five hits, and eight runs allowed in 5.1 innings since coming off the IL. I still think the future is incredibly bright for Misiorowski, but his command seems to have backed up lately, and the Brewers are going to have a really quick hook with him as they try to manage his workload with an eye on the playoffs. I think in most leagues, we’re probably still hanging on to Misiorowski, because we’ve seen how dominant he can be when things are going right. But even with a two-start week coming up (against the Diamondbacks and Blue Jays), he’s not a must-start pitcher right now. Especially since points leagues are where we care most about two-start weeks, and his low chance of a quality start or win in any given outing limits how much value he can provide in those leagues.
Hurston Waldrep, SP, Braves (72%) – Waldrep continues to impress, this time shutting the White Sox out over seven innings on four hits and a walk, while striking out seven. He generated 14 whiffs, more than half of which came on his splitter, which has been his best weapon since he was drafted. But what is fueling the breakout for Waldrep is the depth and breadth of his arsenal – he had multiple whiffs on his curveball and sinker, and also has that slider and four-seamer to lean on as well. He has just two earned runs allowed in 24.2 innings of work with three straight quality starts, and it’s worth keeping in mind that Waldrep is still just 23 despite making his MLB debut more than a year ago. He’s looking like a must-roster pitcher for the stretch run.
Cameron Schlittler, SP, Yankees (47%) – After walking at least three in two of his first three starts, Schlittler has now gone four straight with two or one walk after his strong one-hit performance against the Rays Wednesday. He’s down to a 2.08 ERA in the month of August, with 23 strikeouts to seven walks in 21.2 innings of work. The fastball was on point in this one, generating 11 of his 19 whiffs, and all in all, he’s more than looking like he belongs, even without a go-to putaway pitch (before Wednesday, at least). Schlittler has shown a propensity for some loud contact, but the improved control and swing and miss upside he’s showing makes him a viable option with two excellent matchups on the way next week, vs. Washington and at the White Sox. He’ll be at the top of any two-start pitcher rankings to add.
Parker Messick, SP, Guardians (5%) – 6.2 innings of one-run ball is a heck of a debut. Messick didn’t have a ton of hype surrounding his debut, but this is a guy who FanGraphs.com ranked as a top 50 prospect in their most recent update, and he came largely as advertised in his debut. His fastball only averaged 93.3 mph, up a bit from his time in the minors but still below average even for a left-handed starter. However, his funky delivery proved tough to pick up and led to three whiffs, and he added four more with his changeup while otherwise flashing a solid five-pitch mix. He limited hard contact well and scattered seven hits over his six-plus innings, with six strikeouts to one walk. We didn’t see huge swing-and-miss stuff from Messick, but he held his own and should have a chance to remain in the rotation moving forward. He’s worth adding at least in 15-team leagues, and could be useful as a streamer for next week’s matchup against the Rays.
Brett Baty, 3B, Mets (19%) – It’s been an up-and-down season for Baty, but he’s back on a heater. He has started eight of the past nine games for the Mets and has four homers and a steal in that span after going deep Wednesday. His overall numbers are pretty iffy and his role has fluctuated, but the underlying data is pretty solid – especially his 13% barrel rate and .461 expected slugging percentage. He’s a deeper league play, but not a bad one when he’s hot.
