No. 1 prospect or just a bust?
As far back as spring training, right-hander realized he let pressure take the fun out of the game. He is out to change that.
LOS ANGELES — The frustration in Mitch Keller’s voice was hard to ignore.
Rewind to June 10, a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers at PNC Park. Keller again struggled with his command and gave up four earned runs in 2⅔ innings, needing 72 pitches to do it. The performance brought his ERA to 7.04.
After the game, speaking over Zoom, Keller answered a question honestly about his frustration with the up-and-down nature of his season and how he has been unable to find consistent success: “I mean, I’m probably the most [ticked-off] guy in this locker room.”
The origin of that quote traces back to spring training, Keller told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette during a revealing, in-person interview before Tuesday’s game at Dodger Stadium.
Although he feels things are markedly better now, thanks to nearly two months in the minor leagues, Keller admitted that the mental side of his game has
been a pretty big struggle dating to when pitchers and catchers reported to Pirate City in February.
“I wasn’t having fun,” Keller said. “I wasn’t having fun here. I wasn’t having fun in spring training, and I think that’s kind of where it all started. I got so into the thought of trying to make everybody else happy and live up to the prospect hype of like, ‘I was a No. 1 prospect. Now I’m struggling in the big leagues.’ You get compared to [Tyler] Glasnow. You get compared to everybody else who struggles. Listening to that and worrying about that is not going to do anything for me.”
Whether Keller put too much pressure on himself or not, the results haven’t been there consistently enough dating to the Grapefruit League season. In his first 12 starts, Keller allowed an .885 OPS to go along with 29 walks and 51 strikeouts in 47⅓ innings.
There were flashes of brilliance, sure, and also starts when it looked as if Keller was either mentally wrapped around the axle, unsure of himself or both. That wore on Keller, who watched Glasnow experience the same sort of stuff before rediscovering himself with the Rays.
Keller doesn’t want to have to go somewhere else to get better. He wants to win and thrive in Pittsburgh, and he reiterated that a couple of times. It’s also why Keller was thrilled with what he and Class AAA Indianapolis pitching coach Joel Hanrahan accomplished in the minors.
It was part of an over-arching theme with Keller where he got back to stripping it down and getting back to having fun, caring not about the inevitable comparisons to Glasnow or living up to the enormous hype. The way he explained it — using some adult language for emphasis — the focus was about Keller getting back to who he was as a prospect, the attitude and simplicity that worked once upon a time.
“I went back with ‘Hanny,’ and it was just, ‘What made you really good? Let’s do that. Let’s [expletive] get back to that,’ ” Keller said. “When I went to go play catch, I wasn’t thinking about delivery. I just played catch. Now that’s kind of what I do. Just go play catch and have fun with it.”
It almost seemed like a cathartic experience for Keller, one where he simply stopped worrying about results or outside perception or charting a path in his head of what might happen.
And while Keller is armed with plenty of physical tools — a fastball in the mid-to-upper 90s mph, a pair of breaking balls with terrific movement, a changeup that he doesn’t use enough — he’s often guilty of thinking entirely too much and caring about what everyone around him thinks.
But in this space, Keller seemingly lost the ability to care — in a good way.
“It was all about trying to make the game fun again,” Keller said. “I went down there, it was like — pardon my language — who gives a [expletive] what happens, honestly? Nobody. Go play how you want to play and have fun doing it. Stop worrying about results or whatever. Just get back to having fun.
“When I was coming up in the minors and before I made my big league debut, there wasn’t anything about perfecting pitches or anything like that. It was, ‘Go get guys out.’ That’s what I did.” Pretty darn well, too. Keller was 9-2 with a 2.72 ERA in 14 starts with Class AA Altoona in 2018 before getting bumped up to Class AAA, striking out 76 and walking 32 in 86 innings. After the promotion, Keller struckout 57 in 52⅓innings, a precursor of what was to come in 2019.
That year, Keller blossomed into the International League pitcher of the year, leading the IL in strikeouts (123) at the time of his MLB debut, his ERA 3.56 ranking second.
It was almost a Nuke LaLoosh effect for Keller: Don’t think, Mitch; just throw.
“When I was really good, there was no thought of anything, really,” Keller said. “Just kind of go out, and I know I’m better than you. It’s been like, ‘How do I get that here?’ It’s all a mentality, a thought. I know I’m better than you. I know my stuff is better than you. I know I can get you out with anything I throw. It was just kind of using that.”
And also being comfortable in his own skin. Keller told a story about former pitching coordinator Scott Mitchell ripping into him during a Gulf Coast League game because it looked like he didn’t care. Keller countered that he’s simply not the type of person who wears his emotions on his sleeve.
Good, bad or indifferent, he tends to keep things bottled up. That has been the case this season when Keller has failed to command his fastball or execute his breaking stuff ahead in counts.
“I know people from Pittsburgh are like, ‘I wish Mitch would show more emotion. I wish he cared more,’ ” Keller said. “I just don’t show that much emotion. It’s all kind of internalized. You can talk to my family about that. They’ll tell you the same thing.
“Stuff fazes me. I give up a three-run homer, yeah, that [expletive] sucks. But you have to find a way to calm it back down.
“Going back down to Class AAA, you can’t do anything about that. Just get back to what made you good. I was having fun and dominating people with my fastball.”
The trick will be getting that to translate in the majors, which hasn’t necessarily happened yet. Keller is 0-3 since his return, with a 6.28 ERA in three starts totaling 14⅓ innings. He has walked five, struck out nine, and opponents are hitting .407 (with a 1.031 OPS) against him.
That isn’t good enough, Keller knows. At the same time, he has actively tried to take a step back and appreciate where he is, where he has been and what he gets to do for a living. Nobody wants to struggle, obviously, but there’s also been effort placed in having more fun and chilling the heck out.
Because, well, why not try it at this point, right?
“That was the talk I had with myself,” Keller said. “I need to take a step back and realize where I’m at, what I’ve accomplished and what I’m doing. Making myself enjoy it more and taking a step back has helped me be my best, instead of worrying about everything.”
“When I was really good, there was no thought of anything, really. Just kind of go out, and I know I’m better than you. It’s been like, ‘How do I get that here?’”
— Mitch Keller