PIRATES

There's no doubting what Bubba Chandler can achieve as a major-league pitcher. He's got the stuff, the determination and the attitude to succeed on the mound every fifth day. So many know it, including Kristopher Negron. 

"He’s got absolute electric stuff, and I think he’s going to keep growing and growing," Negron said following the Pirates' 9-0 loss to the Diamondbacks here tonight at Chase Field. "When he’s going to be able to compete in zone more often, I think his stuff is going to play up even more. He’s got electric stuff coming out of his hands. He’s gonna start filling it up and everything will be all good.” 

It's evident that at the age of 23, and just 14 appearances (11 starts) into his big-league career, Chandler is still learning how to navigate lineups and execute consistently. He struggled to do that in a 38-pitch first inning tonight, but he also managed to keep his team within reach over his five innings of work, even after walking six batters and allowing two first-inning runs. 

"Felt like I did a good job with getting through five," said Chandler, who surrendered two hits and struck out four. "It's kind of just the threshold for us is find a way to get through five, get six, seven. Feel like I did a fine job of doing that, limiting damage. Most innings were clean after the first, but there's a couple times I got in trouble. Felt like I did a good job staying composed." 

Chandler eventually began to find the zone more and get ahead of batters, but the first inning wasn't pretty. He left some pitches in the middle of the plate, ones that led to a one-out triple by Ketel Marte and an RBI double by Ildemaro Vargas, and once again struggled with the walks. There were three free passes in the first -- two that came after Chandler got ahead 0-2 and another on four pitches. It all added up to a rather dreadful beginning to his outing. 

"Bubba got himself into a little bit of trouble early with the walks, but cheers to him," Negron said. "I talked to him after and told him I was really proud of him with the way he battled back. That first inning got out of hand a little bit and got away from him, but he only allowed two hits, limited the damage to just two runs and then obviously had a few more walks after that, but for the most part, he did an unbelievable job of grinding through and getting through five innings. I was really proud to see that.” 

Chandler is now 1-4 with a 4.76 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP in the early going of the season. He's struck out 31 batters and walked 26 over 34 innings, so there's surely room for a young, talented arm to grow. And this particular young, talented arm is confident that there will be continued growth moving forward.

"I'm a Major League Baseball player, I should learn after each pitch, definitely each outing," Chandler said. "Feel like I've done well. I've done a whole lot in the big leagues. There are variables to it, but I'm ready. I'm prepared for this level. Just gotta be better in a couple places, and once I can do that, I'm going to start rolling."