The Pirates are set to promote top pitching prospect Mitch Keller, Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com reports. Keller will start one of the Pirates’ games against the Reds on Monday. The right-hander is already on the Pirates’ 40-man roster, so they won’t have to make a corresponding move in that regard.
Now 23, Keller joined the Pirates as a second-round pick (No. 64 overall) in the 2014 draft and has blossomed into a premier prospect during his time in the organization. MLB.com (No. 21), ESPN’s Keith Law (No. 24), Baseball America (No. 30) and FanGraphs (No. 37) each consider Keller one of baseball’s 40 finest farmhands. MLB.com notes Keller possesses a “plus 11-to-5 downer curve,” and BA lauds his “easy,” high-velocity fastball.
Keller’s primary offerings, not to mention his changeup and a newfound slider, have helped him ascend through the minors, though he’s still fairly new to the Triple-A level. He got to Pittsburgh’s top affiliate in Indianapolis for the first time last year, when he threw 52 1/3 innings, and has added another 47 this season. In those 99 1/3 frames, Keller owns a 4.17 ERA with 10.2 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9.
In his first taste of big league action, Keller will slot into a rotation which has been a mixed bag in 2019. The Pirates have gotten impressive production from Trevor Williams, Joe Musgrove and Jordan Lyles. But Williams is on the injured list, as is Jameson Taillon – the Pirates’ usual No. 1 starter. Taillon hasn’t pitched since May 1 because of an elbow injury and won’t return until at least July. Meanwhile, Chris Archer hasn’t performed to expectations since Pittsburgh acquired him in a blockbuster trade with Tampa Bay last summer. Likewise, Nick Kingham, Steven Brault and Montana DuRapau have struggled over a combined six starts.
Pittsburgh’s injuries and the issues in its rotation behind Musgrove and Lyles helped create an opening for Keller. It’s unclear how long Keller will stay up, but for now, the Pirates are left to hope he’ll come out firing and aid in their quest to earn a playoff spot.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Pirates really have no other option at this point.
Agreed it was either this or Ervin Santana, so they made the right move.
Anyone know much about him?
He’s a top ranking pitching prospect in baseball. Has been pitching well in AAA, definitely deserves the promotion and comes at a much needed time.
He supposedly was working on another pitch that would be necessary to have in the ML and the Pirates did not want to bring him up because of that.
He got hit pretty hard when promoted to AAA last year,but settled down.
He has gradually pitched better this year to the point where he could be successful in the ML even though some more time in AAA would be justified.
He’s a top pitcher in the Pirates organization who will rack up a meh performance in the majors, get moved to the bullpen, followed by being traded to an organization for a has-been player. He will then be a top ranking player in the majors with his new club and be in the running for the Cy Young.
Pittsburgh can only turn nobody vets into gold (Liriano, Nova, Burnett, Lyles). They can’t develop their own pitching for some reason (Cole, Glasnow, Presley, Morton).
Unfortunately,that seems to be the case.Presley was an outfielder,and Morton came from the Braves,but Cole and Glasgow were home grown.Cole had three good years then two mediocre ones,and Glasgow never quite got going.
Taillon is,like Cole,a high first round pick,but their other starters all came from different teams.
Hopefully,Keller will be an exception.Kingham certainly has not been one.
Check your privilege, Braves failed with Morton first
Power sinker sits 94-96 can touch 98. Curve is his out pitch. Based on spin rates (if you care about that stuff), it’s elite. Change-Up is average and can be used to keep guys off balanced. He added a Slider this year to give him a full repertoire. Haven’t seen it, but I heard good things as his K/9 has shot up this year which I’m assuming is due to the slider.
I’ve been super high on this kid for about 3 years now, and am plenty excited to see him up. I would not be surprised to see him quickly ascend to the top of the Pirates rotation.
Good, and for the love of God, let him use his stuff and don’t turn him into a sinker balling pitch to contact bum.
I’m not a Pirates fan but I’ve been following Keller for years. He’s a premier prospect with the ceiling of an ace. I wish him well you Pirate fans need it…that said, they are calling him up at least a few months early, just look at his numbers. For example his WHIP this year is 1.43 which is awful. And so he’s bound to fail in the short term. So it goes…
They did not want to do this this soon but have no choice.He also has been pitching better lately.
At least the Pirates are trying different ways to make up for all of these injuries.They are not just trotting out Brault and Kingham,neither of which have been nearly the quality that management thought that they had.
NH should have signed Gio Gonzalez if and when he had the chance.
His whip is high because his first 2 starts he walked a bunch of hitters figuring out his new slider. Since then he has been back to form.
Is it just me or does it seem like he’s been one of the most silent guys at the top of prospect lists the past few years?
Probably just you.
Pirates are playing a doubleheader on Monday to make up the second game of the season that got rained out so it’s possible, if not probable, that Keller is used as the designated 26th player allowed for the second game. Just hoping he pitches well and the front office realizes he gives the team a better chance to win than throwing Kingham, Brault, or the 5 relievers that have been shuttling from AAA to the majors the past 3-4 weeks and stays with the Pirates instead of being sent back down after a spot start.
The Pirates pitching staff is an adjunct farm team for the rest of the league. Sad.
Don’t expect a lot.
Why don’t any of you baseball writers ever mention that Mitch Keller is the brother of another pitcher in the major leagues. Not sure of his name, but is it Brad?
The fact that he is part of a brother combo pitching in the majors is significant. If anyone knew this, it would have been mentioned. The fact is, nobody knows this.
This is why I take anything that the current crop of writers say with 1000 grains of salt.
They simply are not very knowledgeable, nor do very much investigative work anymore.
Brad was born in Georgia in 1995,Mitch in Iowa in 1996.
Googled them and they say nothing about a brother.
Mitch has a brother, indeed. His name is Jon, he’s also a pitcher that played in the Orioles’ organization but never in the majors.