Pittsburgh Pirates: Two Arizona Fall League All-Stars

(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

News: The Arizona Fall League announced their all-star rosters.  The Pittsburgh Pirates have two prospects playing for the West Division team.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have seven prospects in the Arizona Fall League.  We have done multiple updates for far, keeping track of how each prospect has done, with the most recent one linked below.  If you have read the updates, then it is probably quite obvious who the two all-stars representing the Pittsburgh Pirates in the game are.  Top starting pitching prospect Mitch Keller and infield prospect Kevin Kramer will be the Pittsburgh Pirates participating.

Mitch Keller

Keller has been absolutely phenomenal so far in the Arizona Fall League.  He had his best start of the fall just this past Sunday, making a strong case for him to start the All-Star game.  On Sunday, Keller fired five scoreless innings, giving up one hit.  He did roll up a double play, which allowed him to face the minimum.  He only struck out two, and according to Jonathan Mayo, his fastball was sitting 91-94.   So far through the short season, he has an ERA of 1.72 across four starts in 15.2 innings.  He has a K/BB ratio of 10/4, and his WHIP is only 0.77.  He is definitely throwing the ball at a high level and is providing a ton of optimism for his future potential.

Kevin Kramer

Kevin Kramer is the other player representing the Pittsburgh Pirates.  The middle infield prospect has had a really good fall until recently.  Over his last three games, he has found himself in a bit of a slump, going 1-12.  For most of the fall, he has been hitting around .280.  He now finds his slash line at .250/.357/.444.  So his on-base percentage and slugging are still solid, giving him an OPS of .804.  Kramer is making up for some of his missed time this past season.  At Double-A Altoona, he was off to a really strong start.  However, he ended up breaking his hand and only appeared in 56 total games.  So the fall league is a great chance for him to make up some of those at-bats against premium competition.

Next: Potential Buy Low Pitcher

The Arizona Fall League All-Star game will be this Saturday, November 4th, at 8 P.M. Eastern Time.  The game will be nationally televised on MLB Network.  As stated earlier, Mitch Keller has a good shot at starting that game and Kramer will no doubt get an at-bat or two.  It is a good chance for many fans to see Keller for the first time! So make sure to tune in.