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Mitch Keller Named Top Pitching Prospect in the Arizona Fall League

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Both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline have released their lists of the top prospects in the Arizona Fall League this year and they both agreed that Mitch Keller was the best pitching prospect in the league.

Pipeline posted their list of the top 25 prospects and had Keller ranked fourth overall behind Ronald Acuna, Victor Robles and Francisco Mejia. Their brief write-up on Keller mentions that he had the best fastball package in the league, while flashing a plus curveball and an effective changeup. Earlier this week, Keller was voted on to the All-AFL team.

JT Brubaker got some recognition from MLB Pipeline as one of ten AFL prospects who stood out. He was praised for his high-90s fastball velocity and his effective slider in the article, but not mentioned is that his changeup has been a strong pitcher for him as well.

Baseball America ranked Keller third overall in the league behind Acuna and Robles. Mejia ranked sixth. They praised all three of his pitches, noting the improvements to his changeup. The only downside they mentioned was occasional shaky command, but that didn’t affect him against teams full of hitting prospects. His 1.52 ERA was best among starters in the league and his 1.01 WHIP was fourth best for starters. He also held batters to a .226 BAA, while issuing just five walks in 23.2 innings, and he posted a 2.25 GO/AO ratio.

BA also mentioned Taylor Hearn in that article as one of ten prospects on the rise. They gave him a plus grade on his fastball and noted his smooth/clean delivery. They called his slider at least average, which is a nice grade considering that he changed his grip on the pitch while in Arizona.

If you missed it from last weekend, here is our AFL season recap with much more on Keller, Hearn and Brubaker.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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