The South Atlantic League handed out their season awards on Tuesday afternoon and Mitch Keller got some recognition for his terrific season. The 20-year-old Keller was named as the best right-handed pitcher in the league and he also won the Most Outstanding Pitcher award. Yeudy Garcia won the SAL Most Outstanding Pitcher award last year.
Keller will make his Bradenton debut tonight, which will be covered live by both Tim Williams and Wilbur Miller. He finished first in the SAL with an 0.92 WHIP, which is also the lowest WHIP in all of full-season baseball, both minors and majors. In 124.1 innings, he posted a 2.46 ERA, which ranks second in the league. Keller also ranks seventh in the league in strikeouts, though he’s only seven strikeouts behind the second most in the league. He finished his time with West Virginia by throwing 23 shutout innings over his last four starts.
Josh Bell was also named a season All-Star today, getting the nod at first base in the International League. He finished his time at Indianapolis with a .295/.382/.486 slash line in 114 games, with 23 doubles, four triples and 14 homers.