What the experts are saying about Bubba Chandler, projected signing bonus
It came a day later than expected, but it all worked out in the end.
The Pittsburgh Pirates took Clemson two-sport athlete Bubba Chandler with the 72nd overall pick Monday to start the third round of the MLB Draft.
Multiple reports indicated he would bypass college and begin his professional career. Shortly after being drafted, the new Pirates pitcher changed his Twitter bio to “Ball player for the Pirates.” The deadline to make everything official is 11:59 p.m. Aug. 1.
Before Chandler, the Pirates picked up another baseball/football hybrid Lonnie White, Jr., who had signed on with Penn State, with the 64th pick.
“I think there’s something to be taken from that in terms of an ability to make adjustments, to adapt, to learn new skills,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said of the two athletes’ collegiate dual sport ability. “Football, the level of football environments those guys have been in, it’s not easy. ... These guys are used to playing in a competitive environment to be considered at those kinds of schools. So we take those things, obviously, we focus more on the baseball skills and baseball is certainly a different sport. Those two guys have really good baseball skills aside from their football ability.”
History favors the Pirates adding Chandler to the fold as well. A big payday is ahead, according to baseball insiders.
According to MLB.com senior writer Jim Callis, only two of 317 players selected in the top 10 rounds of the 2019 MLB Draft didn’t sign, and only four of the 314 draftees in the first 10 rounds opted not to ink a deal in 2018.
Callis initially figured the Pirates would take either Chandler, Clemson teammate Will Taylor or Bishop Eustace Prep HS (NJ) pitcher Anthony Solometo with the first pick of the second round. They went with Solometo and then Chandler 35 picks later. Taylor opted to stay at Clemson.
The slot value for the 72nd pick was listed as $870,700, though that amount can be negotiated. Pittsburgh, which came into the draft with $14,394,000 in pool money, also picked up two other high school players in the competitive balance and second rounds of the draft. They took Louisville catcher Henry Davis with the first overall pick, which can impact negotiations.
“Henry Davis, that slot, you’re going to save some money on that and then you can spread it around with some of these high school guys that they took,” Prep Baseball director Nathan Rode said. “That’s the crazy thing about the draft is that, yeah, you get picked in rounds and that overall number is next to you, but at the end of the day, after you get the first, second round, that number really doesn’t matter because the bonus is what you’re going to get and that’s how a team values you.
“While Bubba is a third-rounder, he’s going to get first-round money.”
Callis, too, believed Chandler’s deal will be the equivalent of him going midway through the first round, which is anywhere from high $3 million to low $4 million.
Aside from the financial aspect, Chandler will be going into a good system once he does put the ink to the paper. In March, MLB writers Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo, Sam Dykstra and William Boor ranked Pittsburgh’s farm system eighth in the league, the first top 10 ranking for the organization since 2017. Its minor league affiliates include the Bradenton (Fla.) Marauders (Low-A), Greensboro Grasshoppers (High-A), Altoona (Penn.) Curve (Double-A) and Indianapolis Indians (Triple-A).
While he may not be as polished as a college player who was drafted, his athleticism gives him a chance to move quickly through the system.
“Now that he will focus, A, fully on pitching and, B, fully on baseball and football is no longer a factor for him,” Rode said, “there’s a chance for all of his tools to come together quickly.”
Despite being taken as a pitcher, Chandler also plays shortstop and is something Cherington said the club will explore.
“We obviously just barely took him so we haven’t mapped out yet and got with our player development staff totally on what that’ll look like if we can bring him into the Pirates, assuming we can do that,” Cherington said. “Then we’ll put pen to paper on that more and see what that looks like, but we had a lot of conversations with Bubba about that and it’s something that’s important to him and he is legitimately talented on both sides, so we want to take a look at that. We do believe there’s really big upside as a pitcher.”
This story was originally published July 12, 2021 at 6:04 PM.
