Starting Pitcher Notes (May 22): Bubba Chandler, Payton Tolle, and Noah Cameron
Corbin Young examines three starting pitchers from Friday, May 21.
It’s been a busy week at the day job, with coaching, content, and family time eating into my time. As mentioned in a previous article, most of my time has been spent covering the two Yahoo Fantasy and two RotoGraphs articles per week.
Bubba Chandler, SP, Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Bubba Chandler set a career-best with 22 whiffs and 11 strikeouts on Friday against the Blue Jays. Chandler had a 22.2% swinging-strike rate and a 36% ball rate on Friday, with velocity upticks on multiple pitches, though some have been lightly used.
⏩Chandler’s four-seam added nearly 1 mph of velocity (+0.9 mph) with an additional inch of induced vertical break. The four-seamer led Chandler’s arsenal from a swinging-strike rate perspective, given his 23.3% SwK as a pitch he peppered across the top of the zone against the Blue Jays.
✍️He increased his sinker usage to right-handed hitters, throwing them 29% of the time on Friday, up from 4.1% in 2026 before Friday. The sinker was thrown 2 mph harder on Friday, resulting in a 3-inch drop loss and 1 inch of arm-side fade. That’s an interesting pitch mix change via the sinker, potentially leading to plenty of grounders and weak contact, including hitters being caught off guard, expecting the four-seamer.
Chandler had a 5.65 SIERA and 4.93 xERA, yet his skills have been awful (2.6% K-BB% and 9% SwK). Hopefully, this is a launching point for Chandler.
Payton Tolle, SP, Red Sox
Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Payton Tolle threw a quality start against the Twins (6 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 9 SO) across an efficient 85 pitches on Friday. Tolle had a 17.6% swinging-strike rate and a 33% ball rate on Friday.
👉The Twins stacked right-handed hitters against Tolle (78%) while maintaining his four-pitch mix against righties in 2026. Tolle’s four-seamer was cooking with a 20.5% swinging-strike rate while being located in the upper part of the zone or above.
✌️Tolle pounded the sinker in the zone 71% of the time to generate weak contact (79.1 mph exit velocity), steal called strikes (38%), and first-pitch strikes (85%). Unfortunately, Tolle’s sinker has been rocked against right-handed hitters, given his .523 wOBA (.553 xwOBA).
🪝He threw a harder curveball (+2 mph) on Friday, aligning with the curveball losing 4 inches of downward movement. All of Tolle’s curveball whiffs came when he threw them low and below the zone, given his 44% zone rate and 60% chase rate on Friday. Tolle’s curveball zone rate has been similar to the 2026 numbers, but it’s worth highlighting that opposing hitters chased Tolle’s curveball 57.1% of the time in 2026.
Tolle has been relying upon his stuff (110 Stuff+), including three pitches with a 110 Stuff+ or higher (four-seam, curveball, and changeup), while continuing to struggle with command (94 Location+). It’s easy to like Tolle.
Noah Cameron, SP, Royals
Of course, Kansas City Royals’ starting pitcher Noah Cameron would throw six shutout innings, with 4 hits, 2 walks, and 8 strikeouts across 96 pitches against the Mariners on Friday. Cameron had a 12.5% swinging-strike rate and a 37% ball rate.
🪝Cameron has been using four pitches at a double-digit rate against right-handed hitters in 2026. His curveball led his arsenal in whiffs (5), leading to a 33.3% swinging-strike rate, with most of them low and below the zone against the Mariners. Furthermore, Cameron’s curveball had 53% called-strike rate while generating first-pitch strikes 50% of the time.
🪙He weirdly threw all 18 changeups to right-handed hitters in the zone 67% of the time with a 0% chase rate and an 11.1% swinging-strike rate. For context, Cameron’s changeup had 39.6% zone rate and a 30.9% chase rate. The changeup was graded as one of his best pitches as a prospect, but his 96 Stuff+ fell from 106 in 2026 before Friday.
Cameron tends to rely on command (106 Location+), mainly via his four-seam (+16), cutter (+3), and slider (+6), making him a command-over-stuff type profile.