Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Mitch Keller recently joined an elite group with his performance on the mound. He joined the likes of Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez, Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright as the only players since 2013 to record 7+ wins by June 1st.
In his last outing, Mitch Keller had another stellar outing against the Minnesota Twins. He threw six shutout innings, allowing seven hits and two walks with eight strikeouts. That led to him continuing a very impressive streak.
That makes it six straight outings for the young hurler with 6+ innings pitched and two or fewer runs allowed. That is the longest such streak for a Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher since 2015, as Keller has found his groove over the last month. The information was shared on the team’s official account on X.
Mitch Keller has looked like an ace for the Pittsburgh Pirates after a rough April. He started the season allowing at least two runs in all seven of his starts but has really turned it around since the calendar has flipped to May.
One reason for his success has been limiting the long ball. Opponents have hit only six home runs against Keller this season and none in his last five outings. There are some areas of improvement still for his his production to get taken to another level, as his hard hit percentage and average exit velocity are above his career and averages and those in the MLB.
Something people will be keeping a close eye on is if this production from Mitch Keller is sustainable. Last season, he started off hot and earned an All-Star nod. But, his production steadily fell off as the season went along.
From July on, Mitch Keller had an ERA of at least 4.20 in every month after having an ERA of 3.56 or lower the first three months of the season. If the Pittsburgh Pirates are going to make some noise this season, they will need their longest-tenured starting pitcher to have more consistency on the mound over the summer.
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