Four of the five Pirates’ starting pitchers have been decent or better. Of course, you would never blow that with the team’s rancid 22-38 record through the first 60 games of the season. Nevertheless, it is true. You can largely attribute the abysmal record to the bullpen and hitters, as I have outlined numerous times. 

Today’s entry, interestingly enough, will be less of the same complaining about that. As present as those issues are—and as frustrating as they are—they will not change anytime soon. However, there are ways to attempt to rectify things: the front office needs to stop wasting our time and get the young buc(k)s onto the Major League roster. 

Before I dive into the Pirates’ prospect pool vis-à-vis the current roster, I would like to shout out starting pitcher Bailey Falter. In the month of May, he was arguably the best pitcher in all of baseball. In six starts, he tossed 35.2 innings, allowing just three earnedruns. He accumulated four quality starts in that six-game span, amassing a microscopic 0.76 ERA and 0.84 WHIP. This all comes despite his inability to consistently get swings and misses, as he only struck out 19 batters in those 35.2 innings and has just 41 Ks in 66 innings this season. 

The Pirates’ 1-4 starters have the following numbers:

• Paul Skenes: 2.15 ERA, 0.92 WHIP
• Mitch Keller: 3.73 ERA, 1.26 WHIP
• Bailey Falter: 3.14 ERA, 1.08 WHIP
• Andrew Heaney: 3.39 ERA, 1.19 WHIP

Unfortunately, a pitching rotation generally has a minimum of five members. That fifth spot has been occupied by a combination of Carmen Mlodzinski (5.67 ERA, 1.61 WHIP) and Mike Burrows (8.64 ERA, 1.56 WHIP). 

Beyond the horrendous statistics that the fifth rotation spot has amassed, the issue here is that the Pirates have the number two prospect in baseball that could easily slot into that spot: Bubba Chandler. In triple-A Indianapolis this season, the 2021 third-rounder has a 2.03 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP, striking out 69 batters in just 48.2 innings. Opponents only are batting .181 against him. 

He has proven himself in triple-A. In his tenure spanning last year and this year, he has gone 6-1 with a 1.94 ERA and 1.06 WHIP across 88 innings. Why has he not been called up?

The Pirates traditionally do not like to call up players before a certain date in June, as it counts as an extra year of service before they are due for contract negotiations. They broke the mold last year when they called up Paul Skenes in May. Why not waive the tradition again with Chandler? 

Face it. You are never going to pay any of these guys. Would it not make sense to have Chandler and Skenes pitch in the same rotation for as long as possible before the latter gets his inevitable $500 million contract from a big-market club? It certainly would make that fifth game more competitive than trotting out Burrows or Mlodzinski, even if Chandler is only half as good as we can hope. 

For a team that thinks the recipe to success is accumulating prospects and signing guys off the scrap heap, it would behoove them to have their blue chip prospects compete together for as long as possible. Who knows? You may win eighty games in a season doing that.