ATLANTA -- Bubba Chandler was a Turner Field kid. Sure, he caught games at Truist Park when he was in high school, but when he reflects on those early years of watching his hometown Braves, he’s going to remember the team’s old stomping grounds and seeing his favorite players, like Tim Hudson and Martín Prado.
“My dream was always to pitch at Turner,” Chandler said Friday. “Obviously, [that’s] not going to happen, but Truist is right behind it.”
On Saturday night, the Lawrenceville, Ga., native got to toe the rubber at Truist Park. In front of a horde of his family and friends, Chandler finished his season with a gem, striking out six over 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball. That helped propel the Pirates to another win in the penultimate game of the season, as they beat the Braves, 3-1.
Chandler admitted he came out of his pregame warmup in the bullpen amped and it wasn’t until about the third inning that he started to settle in. If the emotions of the game weren’t getting the adrenaline pumping, the group of family and friends there probably contributed, too.
"I may have played for free, but I think it was worth it,” Chandler joked.
His family and friends got to see something special on Saturday. Pittsburgh and the baseball world could see even better things in 2026.
The 2025 season was not as smooth as the Pirates or the game’s top pitching prospect would have hoped, with a midseason slump delaying Chandler’s promotion to the Majors. When he did get the call on Aug. 22, though, it’s hard to envision it having gone much better.
The Pirates’ No. 2 prospect had to pitch out of the bullpen first to show he could get Major League hitters out and quell his control issues. He did that. Chandler got a chance to start against the Brewers on Sept. 7 and was hammered hard, allowing nine runs in 2 2/3 frames, but he responded with three strong starts to finish the year. In those three outings, he struck out 19 over 16 2/3 innings with only two runs allowed. Perhaps most impressively, the 23-year-old didn’t walk a batter, the first time in his professional career when he did not allow a walk over three starts.
Chandler will still be a rookie in 2026, so these five weeks were a chance for him to get a taste of what the Majors are like. Some highs and some lows before he prepares for his first full season, one in which he will certainly be a preseason Rookie of the Year favorite.
“We all know he’s special, right?” pitching coach Oscar Marin said. “This is the old pitching coordinator in me, the Minor League pitching coach: When somebody gets their butt kicked [like against the Brewers], how he responds says a lot. What he was able to do when he got his butt kicked to bounce back showed us a lot, showed me a lot -- the type of person, player, the type of character he has.”
The stuff has always certainly been there. Chandler averaged 99 mph on his fastball Saturday, and while five of his six strikeouts were with his heater, he was able to use his changeup and slider off of the zone, creating lanes for his pitches to tunnel off each other so the whole arsenal played.
Chandler gave Henry Davis plenty of love in the postgame scrum, not just for the catcher’s third-inning homer but also for an early mound visit that helped him settle down. It’s a sign of growth from someone who had to manage emotions through a slump that was keeping him out of the Majors for most of the year.
"A lot of learning,” Chandler said about his time in the Majors. “Good outing, bad outing, you take a lot of stuff from it. I think all the pitchers around me have done a really good job of telling what to think about my outing against the Brewers, what to think about my next outing. It's really nice when you've got guys around you that care for you and have had a lot of success here. Makes it a little easier."
There’s more learning and growing to come, but Saturday was a fitting way for Chandler to end his first season in the Majors. It may not have been with the fanfare of completing a big first rookie campaign like many envisioned back in April or May, but rather it was with a hug from his parents after he spun a gem at home.
“My dad had some tears in his eyes,” Chandler said. “It was really awesome. Talked about this day for many years, and it's finally happened."