You can never have too much pitching, and the Pirates stuck to that mantra yesterday when they traded for RHP Kyle Keller. Keller adds more depth to the Pirates bullpen and has been assigned to the Alternate Training site to start the 2021 season.
Throughout the off-season, General Manager Ben Cherington has shown that his main focus is to acquire as much talent as he can. He did it via trades in the off-season, which brought in 11 different prospects and even though the regular season is here doesn’t mean the trade carousel stops. Cherington pulled off another trade yesterday when he acquired right-handed pitcher Kyle Keller from the Los Angeles Angels for cash considerations. Keller was assigned to the team’s alternate training site and, in a corresponding move, RHP Edgar Santana was designated for assignment. The move was aimed to add more pitching depth to the Pirates, and a guy who can come in and help the bullpen during the season.
Kyle Keller has bounced around throughout his professional baseball career, with the Pirates being the third organization he has been a part of. While he has spent most of his time in the Minor Leagues, the 27-year-old does have some Big League experience. He has pitched parts of two Big League seasons, one for the Marlins and one for the Angels, and has a career 4.15 ERA over his first 12 Big League games. His control has been the biggest thing that has plagued him, as he walked 10 in 13.0 innings, but he balanced that out by striking out 12 batters during that time. Today, we look at Keller’s past and see what he can bring to the Pirates now and in the future.
Reliever For Life
Since he was drafted in the 18th round of the 2015 Draft by the Miami Marlins, Kyle Keller has been a relief pitcher. He started his career as a long-reliever in the Marlins organization, however, as he has matured the fish moved him to the back-end of the bullpen. In 2019, he made the jump to Triple-A and served as the closer for the New Orleans Baby Cakes. It is a role that he thrived in as he converted 10 of 12 save opportunities and pitched to a 4.50 ERA in 54 innings of work. He has been almost untouchable since advancing to the upper levels of the Minor Leagues and had a .212 opponent batting average in 37 games pitched in Triple-A.
Because of his success in the Minor Leagues, he was promoted to the Miami Marlins on August 1st, 2019, and appeared in his first Big League game just three days later. He was solid in his first Big League outing, aside from giving up a solo home run, the only hit he allowed in 1.2 innings of work. Overall, it was just a 10 game workout for Keller, but he showed great improvement as he worked more consistently on the mound. In the month of September, Keller went six outings, spanning 5.1 innings of work, and did not allow a run while walking four and striking out five. the run dropped his ERA to a respectable 3.38 and gave him some confidence heading into the 2020 season.
However, the Marlins saw no future for Keller and ended up designating him for assignment by season’s end. He was on the open market for a total of seventeen days before the Los Angeles Angels made a claim on him. The Angels would trade catcher Jose Estrada to the Marlins for Keller’s services and optioned him to Triple-A. However, with the shutdown of the Minor League season, Keller would have to stick with participating at the Angels alternate training site for most of the season. He did get to make two appearances with the Angels during the 2020 season, but neither of them was good as he gave up two earned runs on three hits over 2.1 innings of work. Now with the Pirates, Keller is looking to find his way to the Big League full-time in 2021.
Another Keller Added to Pitching Mix
If nothing else, the addition of Kyle Keller to the Pirates means that Keller can come into reliever Mitch Keller throughout the season. But seriously, Kyle Keller adds more depth to a bullpen that from the looks of things early on is going to need some reinforcements as the season goes on. He is a guy who can give you some length but also isn’t afraid to come into a big-game situation and get an out when you need it. Keller isn’t a guy who is going to blow you away with velocity, throwing in the low 90s, so he relies on his location to get outs. It will be interesting to see what role the Pirates use him in going forward, and whether or not he will stay as a back-end reliever.
His most used pitch is his four-seam fastball (58.5%), but he balances that out with a pretty good curveball that he uses 34.1% of the time. There is a 13 mile per hour difference between the two pitches, and his curveball features 37 more inches of drop than his fastball. Because of this, he has the ability to leave batters swinging over top of the ball and fishing outside of the strike zone. He also throws a unique pitch that you don’t see much anymore in the Forkball. He doesn’t use it often, at just 7.3% of the time, but when he does he works it down and into lefties. It is a new pitch that he implemented last season, and one he is working on as he tries to add another breaking pitch to his arsenal.
Keller will more than likely be coming out of the Pirates bullpen at some point this season, the question is when. He did get some work in this Spring Training with the Angels but struggled going 0-1 with a 6.14 ERA over 7.1 innings of work. However, he showed better control, walking three batters, and showed a good strikeout ability with nine Ks. The biggest thing that Keller needs to work on is missing bats more consistently. His opponent batting average this spring was .250, which is decent for a starting pitcher but is way too high if you want to work the back-end of a bullpen. This will be the main point of focus for Keller at the alternate training site this season, and especially when he heads to Triple-A for the start of the Minor League season.
Read full article here: https://buccoscove.blogspot.com/2021/04/pirates-add-pitching-depth-with-signing.html