North Oconee HS (Bogart, Ga.) produced a potential No. 1 overall pick for the 2021 Draft in Kumar Rocker, who's now at Vanderbilt, and the Titans have another right-hander on the rise in Chandler. Originally committed to Georgia for baseball, Chandler flipped to Clemson last May when the Tigers offered him a football scholarship as a quarterback. His future looks brighter in baseball, as he's a potential first-round pick as a pitcher and some scouts believe he shows more promise at shortstop.
After working with an 88-93 mph fastball last summer, Chandler has made a leap to operating at 92-95 and touching 97 this spring. He possesses a quick arm and also has added power to his downer curveball, which now resides in the upper 70s, and his less-used slider, which gets up to 85 mph. He shows trust in his low-80s changeup as well.
Chandler's athleticism and clean arm action and delivery bode well for his control and command, though he's still learning to harness his enhanced stuff. He's also an intriguing prospect as a switch-hitting shortstop with solid power potential and speed. He's believed to prefer baseball, though it remains to be seen how Clemson football will affect his signability.
The Pirates' decision to take Henry Davis No. 1 overall in the 2021 Draft and then use the savings to go aggressively well over slot on three high school players after that has yet to completely pan out as hoped. Davis has reached the big leagues, with less-than-optimal results thus far, while Anthony Solometo and Lonnie White Jr. have been derailed by injuries. The shining light of the group is Chandler, the former two-sport standout and two-way player. Despite some inconsistencies at Triple-A in 2025, he still made his big league debut just shy of his 23rd birthday, giving glimpses of what's to come, particularly when he gave up just two runs on seven hits with 19 strikeouts and no walks over his final three starts spanning 16 2/3 innings with Pittsburgh.
Even when Chandler struggled in Indianapolis a year ago, his pure stuff never wavered. His fastball averaged 97.8 mph in the Minors in 2025, according to Synergy. He cranked his four-seamer to an average of 98.9 in the big leagues (top 10 among MLB pitchers if he had pitched enough to qualify), and he touched 101-102 mph at both levels. Thanks to ride up in the zone and extension, the heater misses plenty of bats. He backs the premium heater up with three secondary offerings. His low-90s changeup has become the best of that bunch with impressive fade that got swings-and-misses and ground-ball outs. His hard upper-80s slider can also be an out pitch, and while he can give hitters a different look with a low-80s curve, it's clearly his fourth pitch.
Chandler's athleticism helps him repeat his delivery and hold velocity, and he should be a solid strike-thrower in the future. That fluctuated in 2025, but his command issues came more from losing some mental approach -- he pressed when he expected a callup that didn't come -- leading to struggles in landing his secondary stuff. That enabled hitters to sit a bit more on the fastball, but he was already correcting that at the highest level, giving confidence that he still very much has a frontline starter ceiling.
When the Pirates went over slot to sign Chandler in the third round of the 2021 Draft, they were banking on the athleticism that made him both a two-way player on the diamond and a two-sport standout who could have played football at Clemson. After hitting and pitching for a season, Chandler put the bat away for good and has developed into one of the best pitching prospects in baseball, reaching Triple-A in 2024 and serving notice that he's ready to contribute to a big league rotation.
Chandler has rapidly evolved from an athlete and thrower to a complete pitcher with a real idea of how to use all four of his pitches effectively. It still starts with his elite-level fastball that averaged 96.7 mph and touched 99 in 2024, according to Synergy. It has impressive vertical break, his command of the pitch has improved and he holds the premium velocity deep into starts. The Pirates challenged Chandler to focus on the development of his secondary offerings, and he responded with a much-improved 86-87 mph slider and upper-80s changeup while still dropping in the occasional low-80s curve.
The athletic right-hander showed that he's learned not to lean solely on his heater by throwing slider-changeup-slider to start out the first batter he faced in Triple-A. His strike-throwing continues to improve, and he has the chance to eventually have three plus pitches he can land in the zone. Honing his craft while working out with Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and fellow prospect Thomas Harrington will only help him reach his considerable ceiling.
Chandler's athleticism as a two-way player (who also could have gone to Clemson to play football and baseball) intrigued scouts enough to move him into first-round conversations in 2021. Signability was an issue, but the Pirates, who had saved money with Henry Davis as the No. 1 overall pick, were able to swoop in at the start of Day 2 of the Draft and sign Chandler for $3 million, first-round money. He both hit and pitched through the 2022 season, but a move to pitching only in '23 allowed him to take a strong step forward, ending the year with a dominant debut at Double-A.
After struggling early in the year, Chandler made some excellent adjustments in terms of routine and preparation, allowing him to post a 1.66 ERA and .163 batting average against over his last nine starts following the All-Star break. He's always had impressive physical gifts and pure stuff, and he has made strides in becoming a more complete pitcher. He has an electric fastball that sits in the mid-90s and touches the upper-90s, thrown with excellent life. It's a plus pitch that misses a lot of bats up in the zone. His upper-80s slider has become his go-to secondary offering and it has the chance to be a true out pitch, and he can still fold in a curveball. He's committed to throwing his changeup more and it could be another above-average offering in time.
Because of his athleticism, there has always been confidence that Chandler would become a consistent strike-thrower with more reps, and he walked only 2.4 per nine over those last nine starts. The Pirates also think being around Paul Skenes at the end of the year and beyond will only help Chandler learn about how to prepare and reach his considerable ceiling.
Not only was Chandler a talented two-way player in high school, he was also a two-sport star. He could have gone to Clemson to pitch and hit, as well as play quarterback, but the Pirates used the bonus pool savings from Henry Davis to give Chandler $3 million in the third round to convince him to begin his pro career. He's been hitting and pitching so far in his brief pro career, reaching full-season ball in 2022, but his strides on the mound are pointing to a pitching-only future.
While Chandler does have abilities as a switch-hitting infielder with some pop, he'd only been DHing as a pro, and the time might come soon when he focuses on pitching only. That could be scary for opposing hitters, because he's already shown considerable development on the mound. His fastball touched 99 mph in the Florida State League last year and averaged in the mid-90s. While they can blend together at times, he has a distinct slider and curve, throwing the former a lot more in 2022, showing an ability to miss plenty of bats. His changeup will continue to get better the more he throws it.
A focus on pitching will also allow Chandler to use his athleticism to learn to repeat his delivery and improve his command, something that's been spotty in the early going. He can get in trouble when he falls behind and just tries to blow it by hitters; learning to trust his stuff in the zone is something that could come with dedicated reps and gives him a very high ceiling.
There was little Chandler couldn't do as a high school athlete, starring as a pitcher and a shortstop during baseball season and as a quarterback on the gridiron. When the Pirates took him in the third round of the 2021 Draft, they had to sign him away from a chance to play both sports at Clemson, giving him $3 million to do so. He got a handful of at-bats during a brief pro debut, but the plan is to let Chandler develop both ways, at least for the time being.
Most believe Chandler's long-term future is better on the mound. He added velocity as a high school senior, topping out at 97 mph and easily sitting 92-95, thrown with a ton of arm speed. His downer curve also features more power, thrown in the upper-70s and while he hasn't thrown his mid-80s slider as much, it's a solid offering. He has good feel for his low-80s changeup to give him a potential four-pitch mix.
As an infielder, Chandler is a switch-hitter with a good amount of raw power. His athleticism and speed play on both sides of the ball, with obviously enough arm to play short. He has a higher ceiling on the mound, but it's too soon to rule out his ability to do both things well at the next level.
Chandler not only starred as a two-way player for North Oconnee High School's baseball team in Georgia, he also was a standout as a quarterback for the school's football team, leading to him to change his commitment from Georgia for baseball only to Clemson, who offered him the chance to keep playing football as well. The right-hander and shortstop will focus on baseball only now after the Pirates took him in the third round of the 2021 Draft and went way over slot to sign him for $3 million.
The Pirates plan to allow Chandler to explore hitting and pitching, at least at the outset of his career. On the mound, his fastball made a leap up to 92-95 mph, touching 97 this past spring. He possesses a quick arm and also has added power to his downer curveball, which now resides in the upper 70s, and his less-used slider, which gets up to 85 mph. He shows trust in his low-80s changeup as well.
Chandler's athleticism and clean arm action and delivery bode well for his control and command, though he's still learning to harness his enhanced stuff. He's also an intriguing switch-hitting shortstop with solid power potential and speed and it should be an interesting story line to follow how the Pirates allow him to keep hitting and pitching as a pro.
How this works:
This section shows two different ways to evaluate pitch movement.
On the left, “Total Movement” shows the real-world movement of a pitch, including the forces of gravity, which affects every pitch thrown.
Since gravity requires time, and slower pitches aren't 'better' just because they have more time to move, a pitch's movement is compared to other pitches of the same pitch type, within +/- 2 MPH and +/- 0.5 feet of extension/release.
On the right, Induced Movement (or IVB) is reported without gravity, and attempts to isolate movement created by the pitcher's ability to spin and manipulate the ball.
These run values are leveraged, meaning the base/out situation at the time of the event does impact the run value (thus introducing context outside the batter's own contribution).
Note: xHR tells how many of this pitcher's batted balls allowed would have been out of other stadiums. The "Adjusted" view here accounts for different wall heights, distances and environmental effects using Statcast Park Factor data.
Standard
Year
Team
Avg HR Trot
Actual HR
xHR
HR-xHR
Doubters
Mostly Gone
No Doubters
No Doubter %
2025
22.64
2
4.6
-3
3
5
0
0.0
Player
22.64
2
4.6
-3
3
5
0
0.0
Note: xHR tells how many of this pitcher's batted balls allowed would have been out of other stadiums. The "Standard" view here accounts for different wall heights and distances but excludes environmental effects. It is based purely on the observed trajectory of the hit.
Note: xHR tells how many of this pitcher's batted balls allowed would have been out of other stadiums. The "Adjusted" view here accounts for different wall heights, distances and environmental effects using Statcast Park Factor data.
Standard
Year
HR
2025
2
4
4
6
6
5
5
3
5
2
5
6
3
5
5
3
2
5
5
6
4
7
5
5
2
5
5
3
5
6
5
Player
2
4
4
6
6
5
5
3
5
2
5
6
3
5
5
3
2
5
5
6
4
7
5
5
2
5
5
3
5
6
5
Note: xHR tells how many of this pitcher's batted balls allowed would have been out of other stadiums. The "Standard" view here accounts for different wall heights and distances but excludes environmental effects. It is based purely on the observed trajectory of the hit.
! Note: Shifts are through the 2022 season, Shaded starting from the 2023 season, Shift:
three or more infielders are on the same side of second base, Shade: positioned outside of
their typical responsible slices of the field. Learn more about
how positioning is defined here