Mitch Keller Named International League Pitcher Of The Year

Mitch Keller picked up an honor on Tuesday night

A Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher picked up a big honor on Tuesday. Mitch Keller was named the 2019 International League Pitcher of the Year due to his excellent work during his time with Triple-A Indianapolis this season.

In 19 starts for the Indians Keller posted a 3.56 ERA and a 3.60 FIP in 103 2/3 innings of work. He struck out 28.2% of batters faced, walked 8.0%, and allowed 0.78 HR/9 while limiting opposing batters to a .239 batting average.

When Keller was permanently promoted to the MLB level earlier this month, he was leading the International League with 123 strikeouts. Additionally, his 3.56 ERA ranked second in the league at the time.

Keller is the second Pirate pitcher to win the International League Pitcher of the Year in recent years. During the 2017 season, Steven Brualt took home the award.

Keller has now made six MLB starts. In these six starts he has pitched 27 1/3 innings and he has allowed four home runs. He has struck out 25.6% of batters faced and walked 8.5% of batters he has faced.

While Keller’s 7.24 ERA is ugly it does not tell the entire story, as his 4.02 FIP indicates. After getting shelled in the first two starts of his career Keller has been much better in the last four. Start number seven will come on Wednesday night against the Philadelphia Phillies.

In start number seven Keller will be looking to build upon his best MLB start in his last outing. In that start he pitched into the 7th inning for the first time in his career, he allowed just 1 run, and struck out a career high nine batters.

Moving forward Keller is a vital part of the Pirates plans. The team needs him to become the top of the line starting pitcher that he has all the tools to become. If the team has any chance of contending in 2020 Keller must be this pitcher. Hopefully, he will begin to evolve into this pitcher during the final month of the season.