Bubba Chandler 6/07/26

LAB NOTES

Bubba Chandler Succeeds in a Piggyback Role on Sunday

It's been a bit of a tough season for Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Bubba Chandler, but on Sunday against the Braves, he worked behind an opener and put together one of his strongest outings of the season. He worked 5 1/3 innings, allowing one hit, two earned runs, two walks, and struck out seven. He generated seven whiffs (five on his four-seamer), with a strong 64 percent strike rate and a 24 percent CSW rate.

While his season-long numbers are still lagging (4.91 ERA and 1.44 WHIP), his xERA data (4.47) does show some signs of regression. With Chandler, it's no secret that he has elite stuff and velocity, evident by his 98.4 mph average fastball velocity and 105 Stuff+ according to FanGraphs, but it's his control that gets him in trouble (14.7 percent walk rate). At this point, it's unclear if Chandler will continue to work behind an opener, but fantasy managers who have held onto Chandler this long will want to hang on a bit longer to see if he can figure things out.

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