Baseball America continued their best tools series on Friday morning, covering High-A and Low-A. The Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t have anyone from Bradenton make the list, but Mitch Keller got two mentions in the Low-A article.
Keller was voted by the managers and coaches in the South Atlantic League as the best pitcher, and the pitcher with the best control. The best control award is well deserved for his 14 walks over 101.1 innings pitched. That has led to him leading the SAL with an 0.96 WHIP. He also ranks sixth in the league with a 3.02 ERA, and seventh with 103 strikeouts.
Keller has struggled a bit recently, though he has also exceeded his innings from last year by a large margin, so that may be playing a factor. Due to forearm tightness near the end of Extended Spring Training last year, he only pitched 19.2 innings for Bristol. That doesn’t include innings thrown during Extended ST, or others thrown in the Fall Instructional League after the season, but that still falls well short of where he is already at this season with 101.1 innings.
Due to his overall improvements, which includes hitting 97 MPH with his fastball and showing better command, Keller moved up from 18th in our Prospect Guide, to fifth in our mid-season updated rankings. It should be noted that Keller issued more walks last year in 19.2 innings, than he has this season, so the improvements in that area are incredible, especially for a short time. He’s also doing that while throwing harder and mixing his off-speed pitches in more often.
