PITTSBURGH -- The way general manager Ben Cherington views it, the decision to call up Bubba Chandler was three-fold.

The first was obvious: They wanted to get his feet wet in the Majors. The game’s top pitching prospect according to MLB Pipeline ( and No. 7 overall ) is going to be part of next year’s plans, and getting Major League feedback will be advantageous for both Chandler and the team.

The second was a bit murkier: when do they call him up? Chandler had command issues in June and never got on a run like his first two months again.

“At some point, we got concerned at some point that if we wait for some stretch of perfection, we might see the clock run out and miss that opportunity,” Cherington said Sunday afternoon before the Pirates’ series finale with the Rockies at PN

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