BRADENTON, Fla. -- Mitch Keller had a rough time in his first major-league spring training camp but that doesn’t affect his status as one of baseball’s top pitching prospects.
Keller was among eight players in the Pirates’ first round of cuts on Saturday. He was optioned to triple-A Indianapolis along with fellow right-handers JT Brubaker and Luis Escobar. Reassigned to minor-league camp were left-handers Elvis Escobar and Blake Weiman, righties Dario Agrazal and Eduardo Vera and catcher Jason Delay.
Keller allowed 10 runs and 10 hits in four innings during three Grapefruit League appearances. He walked three and struck out only one.
The 22-year-old is ranked as the 18th-best prospect in the game by Baseball Prospectus, No. 19 by MLBPipeline and 26th by Baseball America.
The Pirates would like to see Keller be more aggressive with his fastball in the International League while also working to sharpen his curveball and changeup.
“He’s not the first guy and not the last guy to have struggles in spring training,” Neal Huntington said. “The encouraging thing is he is ready to tackle things head on, tackle Triple-A and get to the big leagues.
“We never saw the real Mitch Keller this spring. He’s going to work on some things and be the real Mitch Keller. We’re confident of that.”
Though Keller is a rather quiet guy, his confidence seemed intact as he exited his first major-league spring training camp.
“Obviously, it was not the way I wanted it to go, but it was really a good learning experience,” he said. “Nobody wants to get kicked in the teeth like that but I’m ready to go, ready to get after it and be prepared for when they are ready to call me up.”
Keller finished last season at Indianapolis, going 3-2 with a 4.82 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP in 13 starts following his promotion from Double-A Altoona. However, after allowing 13 runs in 8 1/3 innings in his first two starts, Keller had a 3.07 ERA in his last 11 outings.
Brubaker made a strong impression by allowing only one run in six innings. The Pirates selected him as their minor-league player of the year in 2018 when he went a combined 10-6 with a 2.81 ERA and 1.26 WHIP in 28 starts with Indianapolis and Altoona.
“JT has been a guy for about four years that we’ve liked more than I’d guess you’d say the external noise on him,” Huntington said.
Luis Escobar allowed one run in 3 2/3 innings, Weiman gave up one run in 2 1/3 innings, Agrazal worked 4 1/3 scoreless innings, Elvis Escobar allowed four runs in two innings and Vera surrendered only one run in five innings.
Delay was 1-for-8 (.125).
The Pirates have 54 active players remaining in camp, including 25 pitchers, six catchers, 13 infielders and 10 outfielders.