The Pittsburgh Pirates Need To Promote Mitch Keller

With two starting pitchers now on the injured list, it is time for the Pittsburgh Pirates to promote their top prospect

Entering the 2019 season the starting rotation and bullpen were supposed to be the biggest strengths for the Pittsburgh Pirates. While the rotation has lived up to the hype thus far, the injury bug has started to bite.

17 members of the Pirates 40-man roster have already spent time on the injured list this season. The two latest victims are the team’s top two start pitchers – Chris Archer and Jameson Taillon. This leaves the Bucs with a need in the starting rotation.

Luckily, Archer should be back sooner rather than later. As for Taillon, he will be shut down for four weeks before being re-evaluated. So, the budding ace may be out for awhile.

With both Archer and Taillon out, Clint Hurdle has announced that the team will go with Steven Brault and Nick Kingham in their place. This, however, is the wrong move to make. What the team needs to do is promote top prospect Mitch Keller.

Keller is one of the top-25 prospects in all of baseball and for good reason. Keller now has 16 starts under his belt at the Triple-A level. This combined with the injuries to the Pirate starting rotation should lead to his promotion to the MLB level.

Promoting Keller would be an aggressive move. He could likely still use some seasoning at Triple-A, and it would come before the magical Super 2 deadline passes. However, the Pirates have already been aggressive with promoting prospects this season.

Outfielder Jason Martin was promoted during the first week of the season when Corey Dickerson went on the IL. Later in April, fellow outfielder Bryan Reynolds and shortstop Cole Tucker would join Martin at the MLB level. While Martin has since returned to Triple-A, Reynolds and Tucker have gone on to secure starting jobs for the Pirates.

Keller got off to a slow start at Triple-A after being promoted last summer. However, in his last 14 Triple-A starts, dating back to July 22nd of last season, Keller has settled in and started to look like the highly touted prospect that he is.

In his last 14 starts, Keller owns a 3.25 ERA and a 3.31 FIP in 74 2/3 innings pitched. He’s walked 9.2% of batters faced, struck out 25.2%, and he’s allowed just four home runs. While you’d like to see that walk number come down some, keeping the ball in the park and striking out more than a fourth of the batters they face will help a pitcher work around walks.

While how Keller would perform is an unknown, what is not an unknown is what to expect from Brault and Kingham. In 68 career appearances for the Pirates (16 starts) Brault owns a 4.87 ERA, 4.85 FIP, and a 11.8% walk rate. This includes a 8.31 ERA, 5.34 FIP, and a 10.8% walk rate this season.

Kingham’s track record is not as long. He’s pitched in 26 games (15 starts) with the Pirates since being promoted to the MLB level for the first time since last April. Kingham owns a 5.38 ERA, 5.34 FIP, and an alarming 1.93 HR/9 in his 88 2/3 career innings pitched.

This season, Kingham has been better. In 12 2/3 relief innings he owns a 3.54 FIP, 23.6% strikeout rate, and he’s allowed just one home run. While giving Kingham another opportunity to start is something the Pirates should be totally opposed to, he should not get an opportunity before Keller.

To their credit, the Pittsburgh Pirates have been aggressive with promoting top prospects this season. This is a big reason why the team owns a 16-15 record despite being decimated by injuries early on. That said, the aggressiveness needs to continue. And the next top prospect to join the MLB roster needs to be Mitch Keller, and this move needs to happen now.