Ready to go
Back from injury, Mitch Keller returns to the pitching rotation.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mitch Keller will make his first start since Aug. 1 and third overall in 2020 when the Pirates play a doubleheader Monday in Cincinnati, manager Derek Shelton announced Sunday morning before the series finale against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
The 24- year- old righthander has been out with a left oblique injury. Shelton said he was not yet sure which of the two games Keller will pitch.
“It’s important to get him innings through the rest of the year, with the time he’s missed going into 2021,” Shelton said. “Getting him back on the mound is important to us.”
Once considered the Pirates’ top prospect before he graduated to big leaguer status, there was much expected out of Keller this season.
So far, he has been limited to one solid start July 25 in St. Louis, when he didn’t have his best stuff. In five innings, Keller struck out two and allowed an earned run to help Shelton win his first MLB game.
While Shelton didn’t talk about innings or pitch projections for guys coming back from injury, he did draw a parallel to Joe Musgrove, who returned after about a month from right triceps and ankle issues to throw 46 pitches over three innings Sept. 2. Next time out, on Sept. 8, Musgrove threw 64 pitches over four innings.
It’s likely this will be the first of three rehab starts for Keller, assuming things go well. If he pitches every fifth day, Keller would get opportunities Sept. 19 and 24.
Davis looks for rebound
Austin Davis was watching Musgrove throw in the bullpen Saturday when he noticed something about Musgrove’s slider: It looked awfully similar to his.
Too often in the past, Davis’ slider has been more of a slurve, a slider- curveball hybrid, but lately the lefthander has been playing with his grip and mentality when throwing the pitch, aiming to create a sharper break.
The Musgrove comparison should be a good thing for the Pirates’ newest reliever, as opponents hit just .174 and slugged .240 against the pitch in 2019.
It should also help, as the Pirates look to mold Davis into a reliable reliever. Thus far in his career, Davis has seen his high strikeout muted by both walks and pitches that are entirely too fat.
“It’s just talking to guys about what they’re throwing, what their mentalities are, mixing and matching,” Davis, 27, said. “I’m getting past the ‘ I’m still young in my career’ phase, but I’m still trying to learn every day. I’m trying to figure out what’s going to work best for my natural mentality, which is to just attack the hitter with my best stuff.”
The good news is that the Pirates have already fixed a couple other left- handers in the bullpen by accentuating what they do well — Sam Howard by relying on his slider ( 63.3% usage), Nik Turley and his curveball ( 41.7%). Davis hopes he might be next.
“Even looking at last year, my in- zone strike percentage was higher than in years past, but without the conviction and the intensity I think I needed to have,” Davis said. “So that leads to foul ball, foul ball, foul ball, ball, walk, vs. really attacking the hitter from pitch one with my best stuff and going from there.”
Move your feet
It has been a rough fielding year for Kevin Newman, who has six errors in 33 games. That works out to nearly 30 over the course of a 162- game season, which isn’t anywhere near acceptable.
Newman has bounced around a bit, primarily between shortstop and second base, but Shelton said that hasn’t been the primary issue why his fielding has taken a hit. The bigger problem, Shelton believes, is that Newman isn’t moving his feet enough.
“The main thing is, we’ve got to get his feet underneath him, moving his feet, making sure his feet are in the right spot,” Shelton said.
“That’s the thing that stands out. I know you see the balls that hit off his glove but usually that happens when your feet are not in the right spot.
“That’s one of the things that we’re talking about and isolating on with him.”
That error total should probably be one higher, too. In the first inning of Friday’s game, Royals first baseman Hunter Dozier hit a ball that Newman couldn’t handle, though it was ultimately ruled a hit by the official scorer.