PITTSBURGH (93.7 the Fan) – Pirates rookie starter Mitch Keller’s performance last year in the majors could range from giving up a run in five innings to eight runs in four and everything in-between. On Thursday, new Pirates manager Derek Shelton saw the best he’s seen yet from the righty.
“Definitey the thing that made me smile today was watching him execute and seeing his development,” Shelton said. “This guy has a major ceiling and he keeps taking steps in his development. That makes me smile.”
Specifically, Shelton said he’s building and showing sharpness with really good breaking balls and the execution of the fastball is better than previous outings.
“Where we are definitely seeing growth is the fact he is asking the right questions about what the information is now,” Shelton said. “When we get to that, we are getting to the point where guys understand where their feel is.”
So what is an example of the right question?
“What the action of the fastball is?,” Shelton said. “What the action of the breaking ball is? Where you should locate those specific pitches for certain hitters?”
The Bucs manager says with the analytics, which new pitching coach Oscar Marin has made more understandable to pitchers this year, you don’t even need the live action to see what the stuff is doing. You can see it from the bullpen work. Coaches say Keller needs to understand the numbers and then apply that information.
They take the bullpen as serious as a game in terms of they aren’t just throwing, but pretending its situations in games against particular hitters.
“We want to make sure that every pitcher is using their strengths.” Shelton said. “We aren’t going to bucket every guy in the same pitch usage. For Mitch, we know that the characteristics of his fastball and what it does and how he has the ability to ride it in different places.”
If the Pirates are to be competitive in this 60 game season, already down their top two starters in Jameson Taillon and Chris Archer, Keller must show the form that made him an all-star at every level as the climbed through the minor leagues.