No balls in play, no problem. Mitch Keller named Pirates' 2023 Opening Day starter - MLB.com Gambling Problem? See terms at draftkings.com/sportsbook. Steve Stockmar. In late January 2022, amid the MLB lockout, Keller made a trip to Treads facility in Hickory, N.C., and video of his bullpen session went viral. He was fully out of sync, not a tweak or two from things clicking. April 4, 1996 Hes in a completely different place mentally than he was even one year ago. Recalled in June and again in August, Keller wound up making 11 starts in his rookie season. Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports Robberse, Zulueta Pitch Inning At 2023 Futures Game Two of the Blue Jays' top pitching prospects shared an inning at Saturday's MLB All-Star Futures Games. No cookies. He was like, I was gonna say the same thing. Everyone was thinking about it, but it took me verbalizing it to somebody to make it a thing., Keller throws the sinker 17 percent of the time,and its a big reason he is generating a career-high 53 percent ground-ball rate. Thats as much as there is to share.. Were doing good things out there.. Because the sinker added east-west action to a pitch mix that had previously run mostly north-south (four-seamer, curveball, changeup), Keller also added a sweeper he had toyed with during the offseason. Includes full stats per MLB opponent. June 12 - EditorsNote: 7th graf: updated to returned; Tucupita Marcano hit a go-ahead RBI single in the fourth inning and Andrew McCutchen reached 2,000 career hits as the Pittsburgh Pirates topped the visiting New York Mets 2-1 on Sunday. So now its a pitch we definitely want to move forward with., When a low-slot pitcher throws a sweeper, it will have a big, Frisbee-ish, break that rips hard across the zone. Ji Hwan Bae added a two-run single with two outs. RT @jontester: Within hours of Mitch McConnell's hand-picked candidate entering the race for Montana's Senate seat, national Republicans already had ads up to bolster his campaign. I would have gotten back up there and tried to throw, and stuff would have spiraled out of control.. Hayes says Keller has the potential and pitch mix to be like 2022 Joe Musgrove, to have six pitches and the confidence to throw them in any count. As pitches try to stay a step ahead of batters, certain pitches move in and out of fashion. Keller strikes out 13 as struggling Pirates beat Orioles 4-0 - USA TODAY It was just perfect enough.. Updated: Monday, July 17, 2023 7:09 AM ET, Sunday Notes: Trevor May Has Favorite Miggy Moments, Effectively Wild Episode 2033: Need-to-Know Bases, Cooperstown Notebook: The 2023 Progress Report, Part II, Starting Pitchers Arent Leaning On Their Best Pitches, 2014 June Amateur Draft - Round: 2, Pick: 23, Overall: 64, Team: Pittsburgh Pirates. Keller punched out McGuire, took home the win and invited Hayes and his friends onto the field afterward. I knew I could throw two sinkers for strikes and get myself back in the count without having to worry about too much damage being done on that pitch, Keller said. Not mindset-wise, but all the unlucky s and stuff I couldnt control. I just picked it up one day and started throwing it again, Keller said. A lousy BABIP also can be a time bomb. In the fifth inning, in a tie game with two runners on and two outs, Keller fell behind 3-0 against Yandy Daz. Follow Noah Trister at https://twitter.com/noahtrister, AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Major League and Minor League Baseball data provided by Major League Baseball. It feels like Im throwing a 12-6 curveball, he said. Swingman Dillon Peters picked it up two weeks ago. By the time he reported to spring training, Kellers four-seamer was touching 100 mph. Three singles, a walk and the brain fart had produced three runs, and the Rays still had a runner on second with nobody out. Pittsburgh starter Mitch Keller (8-2) pitched seven innings, allowing one run and a season-low two hits, with seven strikeouts and two walks. Kellers parents, Al and Joni, made the six-hour drive from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Cincinnati to watch his debut. You get the white of the ball on top and the seams cut through on the side so it just cuts across (the plate).. So Keller spent the winter months developing a cutter a variation of the gyro slider he threw in 2019 that fits somewhere between his horizontal (sinker, sweeper) and vertical offerings (four-seamer, curveball, changeup). Why? her husband asked. I dont care who were facing, Ill take Mitch Keller versus anybody in the league right now.. Now coming into 2023, many are eagerly awaiting Kellers performance, a departure from past expectations. BALTIMORE (AP) Amid a dreadful May stretch for Pittsburgh, Mitch Keller provided another reminder of how good the Pirates looked just a few weeks ago. Its funny, because Ive had a lot of guys, even guys on other teams, start asking about it lately.. Suddenly, Keller looked like a solid middle-of-the-rotation type pitcher. This is the team that drafted me. That demotion was an inflection point. That might be the best pitching performance of the season. They deployed the Kikuchi Drill, named after Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi, to address drift and train the body to stay as tall as possible for as long as possible during the delivery. Keller went into spring training aiming to earn the Opening Day starter assignment. Mitch Keller 2023 MLB Splits - ESPN The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. Do that again. Keller stepped off the mound, shook his head and took a couple of steps toward center field. The fact theyre having those conversations at all is a sign of how far Keller has come. Thats definitely exciting, considering where I started, Keller said. Oct 3, 2022. That pitch could be a game-changer for him, Marin said. Kellers 41-pitch nightmare inning ended when Winker struck out. Devers saw the kitchen sink. Its something different that goes off of a curveball.. Last year, it was the sinker. Like Keller, Musgrove, who pitched for the Pirates from 2018 to 2020, uses a high release slot. Left-handed hitters saw mostly four-seamers, sinkers and curveballs and continued to punish his inability to put them away. Keller, on track to hit free agency after the 2025 season, revealed in a radio interview this week that he and the Pirates have had preliminary conversations on a contract extension. In nine starts with Indy before his promotion, Keller went 5-0 with a 3.34 ERA and averaged 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings. Eugenio Surez walked. Keller became the first Pittsburgh pitcher with at least 10 strikeouts and no walks since Gerrit Cole on July 19, 2017, and the first to throw seven or more scoreless innings in back-to-back starts since Charlie Morton in 2015. All major league baseball data including pitch type, velocity, batted ball location, July 8th, 2023. After his milestone hit, the Pirates went down in order in the first, stranding McCutchen at first. It looks a little like a curveball, but its gonna (break) late and in a hurry. During a bullpen session, Marin showed Keller the sweeper grip. Keller pitched well in June, but failed to get a decision in five starts. Mitch Keller takes the field for his major-league debut on May 27, 2019. I went to Jagers and basically told him, I need a slider, Hembree said. When Devin Hayes, a performance coordinator at Tread Athletics, had his first video call with Keller shortly after the 2021 season, Keller was not particularly enjoying the game of baseball. Projected to be arbitration eligible for the 2024 season. Another would be to lean into the natural movement, shift the grip and turn it into a two-seamer. Even with the better results in the back half of last season, Keller still was handcuffed to some degree. Lets start with what Rob Biertempfel outlined regarding the pitchers arsenal. If you dont have above-average carry on it, youve got to think of something else.. Keller has kept his original gyro slider, which can coax bad contact when its on. Many thanks to him. Mitch tried it, we used it and we hit the target (horizontal break) number with it, Marin said. Try a week on us. After a so-so outing on opening day in Cincinnati,. In those videos, theres a look in his eyes that suggested he was either a guy whod found something or a guy who was anxious about something. Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. Pirates call up Endy Rodriguez, Liover Peguero to MLB, Bucs Arghticles: Pirates call up Endy Rodriguez, Pirates Quinn Priester to debut against Cleveland. RHP Mitch Keller assigned to FSL South Division All-Stars. Tread Athlete Mitch Keller throwing a cutter pitch design session with Performance Coordinator Devin Hayes.-Looking for guidance in your baseball career?-We'. 1. In the fourth, McNeil led off with his third homer, to right, for a 1-0 Mets lead. Topping out at 80 mph, Wilsons sweeper can be a great change-of-pace pitch. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. Keller is still learning how to best employ his new pitch. A curveball Devers didnt chase. Draft: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2nd round of the 2014 MLB June Amateur Draft from Xavier HS (Cedar Rapids, IA). Hayes sent Keller the video, explained what he saw and suggested hed be a good candidate for a seam-shift sinker. At the end of the 2021 season, as executives and coaches mapped out offseason plans for players, there came a comment from the Pirates performance staff that caught Cheringtons attention: His body is really strong. Mitch Thomas Keller (born April 4, 1996) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). Get the latest on Pittsburgh Pirates SP Mitch Keller including news, stats, videos, and more on CBSSports.com If I dont take a step back (Friday) night or after those games against Cincinnati and think about something else, who knows where Im at right now?, (Top photo: Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press). After the Devers double play, Keller surrendered a run on a seventh-inning infield single and avoided a three-run homer when replay concluded Reese McGuires fly ball had curled just to the right of Peskys Pole. The Orioles host a four-game series with the Angels that begins Monday night with a marquee pitching matchup. The Pirates play at Detroit on Tuesday night, with Luis Ortiz (0-1) taking the mound for Pittsburgh against Michael Lorenzen (1-2). And for good reason, too, because its really hard to hit.. Latest on Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Mitch Keller including latest updated stats on ESPN . PITTSBURGH One start to go and then Mitch Keller will have done it. Born: Bryan Reynolds, who reached when he struck out on a wild pitch, scored on a single by Ke'Bryan Hayes. There was the changeup craze about 10 years ago. Im going to throw harder than you, Hayes texted. Those small-sample stats only carried significance because at that moment they almost exactly mirrored Kellers career numbers against left-handed hitters .308 batting average, .837 OPS and because a scoreless gem hung in the balance. in Cedar Rapids, IA Now its the sweeper. It was the first time the Pirates scored more than three runs since that 16-1 win over the Nationals. Keller set down the next nine batters in a row and left the game after five innings without allowing another run. Im the old one on the staff. Shohei Ohtani (4-1) starts for Los Angeles against Baltimore rookie Grayson Rodriguez (2-0). Five pitch types. Finally coming into his own, he posted a respectable 3.91 ERA over 29 starts, and a well in-line 3.88 FIP to boot. We know we need to be good at pitching development over time, Cherington said. Keller was also responsible for Pittsburgh's only other win so far in May. Just having confidence in your stuff always helps, Keller said. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. That might be taking it to an extreme, but in those dark times, yeah, I feel like theres nothing else to do. He shakes his head, then smiles. Peters was sold on trying the sweeper when he saw Wilsons pitch zip into the strike zone like a fastball, then stay in the zone longer than a loopy curveball. PHOENIX -- The game felt weird to begin with and it stayed weird later, as the Pirates squandered two leads to drop another game in the desert. Im probably the most pissed-off guy in this locker room, he said after that start. Some high school data is courtesy David McWater. He just needed to move more efficiently. They made sure I knew they were with me and I should just keep going, Keller said. One solution would be to work to fix the four-seamer and increase its carry. Keller climbed back up the mound. Mitch Keller appears to be on the rise - Bucs Dugout His velocity was up two ticks year over year, now sitting 95 mph and topping out at 98 mph, but the results remained miserable. Mitch Keller Statcast, Visuals & Advanced Metrics | MLB.com Over the remainder of the season, Kellers ERA fell into the 5s, then the 4s, then the 3s. Total Zone Rating and initial framework for Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith. It just took five years to get there. Some defensive statistics Copyright Sports Info Solutions, 2010-2023. At his parents home in Cedar Rapids on Monday, Kellers mom, Joni, started pacing as Keller headed back out for the ninth inning. Here we are in late June and Kellers four-seam fastball usage is at a career-low 39 percent. Then, in 2021, he started to truly look lost on the mound. Mountcastle also whiffed against reliever Colin Holderman, and Stowers fanned in the ninth against closer David Bednar with two on and nobody out as Baltimore attempted a last-ditch rally. The last two starts are those rare starts where you have everything working, Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. Put your baseball knowledge to the test with our daily baseball trivia game. Hayes, a former Division III pitcher, was throwing bullpen sessions at the time. That did not occur overnight. Take a deep breath and reset, Keller said. Its not that easy. PITTSBURGH When he takes the mound Thursday afternoon at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller will make his first Opening Day start on the same patch of Kentucky Bluegrass where his big-league career began. Keller used to love his four-seamer. The phenomenon is called seam-shifted wake. Looking back, I wish we had thrown (the changeup) more in that inning, just to keep them off the two-seam, Keller said. Didnt you watch the first eight innings?. A well-placed sinker fouled away. I think his mindset is better, manager Derek Shelton said. I was like, thats the sinker! Hayes says. We wanted to celebrate the big day a couple innings in, Incmikoski said. Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. He saw his walk rate decrease and his WHIP drop drastically. Reported as the pre-2023 season number of waiver options remaining. That was unbelievable. Evaluators and development coaches were quick to take notice of the quirky new slider that was spreading around the majors. Kellers slider had never done that before. Since rejoining the rotation May 31, Keller has posted a 2.96 ERA with 23 strikeouts in five starts (27 1/3 innings). Then, in his age 26 season, Keller pitched the best hed ever pitched in a big league uniform. But when everything feels off, you cant even tinker. I think its cool, Keller said. Six pitches. The next day, he was sent back to Indy. Pittsburgh was 20-8 after a 16-1 win at Washington on April 29. And its hard. pic.twitter.com/oZJgThZjP2, Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) March 15, 2023. Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin had previously collaborated with Tread co-founder Ben Brewster on training programs for Holmes and a few others, so when Keller joined Tread the Pirates knew he was in good hands even if as they expected might happen a lockout cut off the clubs communication with players that offseason. Hes your No. Mitch Keller Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com Put your baseball knowledge to the test with our new daily trivia game, Immaculate Grid. 2021: PIT. Kellers pitch-mixing has perhaps helped to create his best strikeout rate since his first season, while pushing out his lowest walk rate since that same year. Joe Musgroves name kept coming up as a comp, Marin said. This past week has been a significant one for Sonny Gray. May 26, 2017 Bradenton Marauders placed RHP Mitch Keller on the 7-day disabled list retroactive to May 24, 2017. On April 5 at Fenway Park, Mitch Keller had just begun his third tour through the Red Sox order by walking the leadoff man to bring up Rafael Devers, who according to the scoreboard was batting .308 with a .833 OPS. There were growing pains as he learned to command the pitch, a recurring theme for Keller, but as the season progressed, hes generally gotten better and better with his sinker. Oh yeah, Ive seen it. Then the Pirates scored just 18 runs in their next 12 games. It always fell for a hit.. He got shelled. Includes full stats per opponent, and home and away games. Every extension is a risk/reward proposition for both sides. Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. They focused on drift (a pitcher moving his center of mass forward during the leg lift before driving off the back leg)to build momentum down the mound. Keller used to love his four-seamer. I didnt expect to be the dude at the end of this year, but here I am, Keller said with a grin. Pirates' Mitch Keller surprised even himself this year: 'I didn't