Cherington stands behind Keller as righty battles

PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – For as much concern as there has been about Paul Skenes, starter Mitch Keller is in the middle of his worst season in the majors since 2021. What Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said of his highest paid pitcher.

Making $18 million next year and $20 million in 2028, Keller was 1-3 in June with a 6.23 ERA and 1.65 WHIP and followed that giving up five runs in six innings at Washington on Friday.

They know what is wrong.

“It's left-hand hitting,” Cherington said Wednesday. “That's not brand new, but it's probably just been more of a glare here recently.”

This season Keller has given up 10 home runs to lefties to two for right-handers. The OPS for lefties is .831 to .575 for righties, batting average .283 to .204

“And teams are stacking (left-handers),” Cherington said. “You can see that.”

There is also the trouble of the deeper he goes, the worse it gets, a 1.72 WHIP in the fourth inning, 1.77 in the fifth and 3.00 in the seventh this season.

As for the answer?

“In-season solutions are always going to be a little bit different than if we talk longer term,” Cherington said. “I think in-season, it's probably about digging into pitch mix and sequencing and command and execution. There may be some opportunities there.”

“Longer term, there may be other things that are easier to attack in an offseason.”

Keller is struggling to get ground balls, where 50% of his outs in 2022 were grounders, this year it’s a career-low 38.9. The spin rates on his fastball and curve are down. The expected batting average is up to .292 from .259 last season. There are more numbers, but the big one is finding a way to get a win.

Would the Pirates consider an opener for him, like Mason Montgomery has a couple of times this year? Throw a lefty in the first two innings against a lineup likely stocked with left-handers.

“I mostly leave that to Donnie (Kelly) and (pitching coach Bill) Murph (Murphy) to talk about,” Cherington said. “That's obviously a tool we've used, other teams have used. There can be strategic advantage to it, but obviously want to always balance that with the specific pitchers that that decision impacts and just how they're gonna respond to that. There's more than one thing to consider there. That's ultimately Donnie's call. It's something we think about, not just with Mitch, but with all of our guys. If there's a way to give yourself a better chance to win a game, then we should be at least considering that.”

Keller was 4-1 with a 2.87 ERA on May 7, since his ERA has almost doubled and his shorter innings are taxing an already struggling bullpen.

“We're in the season right now, we're counting on him, he knows that,” Cherington said. “He's a prideful guy, as he obviously wants to do well when he's out there. We know he's capable of doing well. He's motivated by this, I believe, and we'll stick with him.”