PITTSBURGH — The ultimate line could not have been the cleanest for Mitch Keller — three runs over 5 innings with six hits and a pair of walks allowed within the Pirates’ 5-2 loss to the Brewers at PNC Park — however his stuff on Thursday afternoon appeared much more just like the Keller of the primary half of the season. The man on the mound who practically identically replicated his All-Star marketing campaign from 2023 and exited his Aug. 3 outing with a 10-5 document and three.20 ERA.
The final 9 begins, although, have been removed from supreme. His velocity dipped, his command wasn’t as sharp, and he went 1-8 with 37 earned runs allowed over 45 2/3 innings. A season that appeared All-Star worthy for a lot of the yr wound up ending with an 11-12 document with a 4.25 ERA.
“Up and down, up and down,” Keller stated when requested how he would describe this season. “There’s positively a number of highlights up there and positively a number of lowlights. However general, a number of good issues to look again on and a number of issues to maintain working for. I do not know, it is bizarre. I am proud of it and in addition disillusioned in some areas too, so there’s much more I can do for myself. And much more I can do for this staff going into subsequent yr, for certain.”
It’s the second yr in a row that Keller stumbled down the stretch, ending with a 4.21 ERA in 2023, a mark that raised eyebrows for many who watched him a lot of the yr. The Pirates nonetheless guess on him throughout Spring Coaching with a five-year extension, and he continued to emerge because the chief of this rotation this yr.
However Keller’s second half this yr was weighed down by three begins on Aug. 9, Aug. 14 and Sept. 20, the place he allowed a mixed 23 earned runs — in comparison with 61 runs over his different 28 begins. He prides himself on consistency, and he’s looking for that.
“I feel that is going to be the place we spend our focus,” stated supervisor Derek Shelton. “In two years, [he] bought off to a extremely good begin after which simply wasn’t constant within the second half. Now that we’ve two years in a row like that, that ought to be our focus of [asking], ‘What are we doing?’ A full encompassing of the whole lot he does all through the second half.”
Keller rewatches his begins over the offseason, and that “full encompassing” look goes to be each mechanical and psychological. The Pirates took benefit of off-days, periodic bullpen video games and spot starters to offer their starters the remainder of a six-man rotation for a lot of the yr, attempting to create further relaxation over the course of the season. Keller didn’t assume the technique helped or harm him. It could be arduous to argue that it helped him a lot down the stretch.
“Undoubtedly simply a number of issues to continue to grow on and possibly choosing different individuals’s brains, different starters across the league simply to see how they put a full season collectively,” Keller stated.
Keller got here into this yr vocal that he thought this staff might be a playoff contender. That clearly didn’t come to go, however they’ve the rotation to doubtlessly accomplish that subsequent yr. A full marketing campaign from their employees chief would assist make that potential.
“I feel we’ve a number of nice expertise on this room, particularly on the pitching employees,” Keller stated. “I could not be extra excited to go a full season with Paul [Skenes] and Jared [Jones] and Bailey [Falter] and [Luis] Ortiz.”
