BRADENTON, Fla. -- The plan, as Mitch Keller would share with me later, was to stay thick on the offspeed stuff. In particular a "new" slider he's been perfecting.
Made sense, too. As Roberto Perez, his batterymate, would explain a few stalls down, "When you're throwing that hard, we know what you've got. That was me. I wanted to see more. Let's see the rest. Let's sharpen up."
But there's a time for sharpening, and there's a time to just shut it down.
Which is to say, this:
That, my friends, is 98.6 mph following a ramp-up of 96.6 for strike one and 97.1 for strike two.
A.k.a. wham, bam, and thank you, man.
"When he had to go back and put people away, we saw him go back and put people away," Derek Shelton would say after Keller's four zeroes -- five hits, four Ks, no walks -- set up the Pirates' 6-2 romp over the Red Sox on this sunny Tuesday afternoon at LECOM Park. "That was really exciting."
Mm-hm.
This was the fourth inning, what's seen above. Boston bounced back-to-back seeing-eye singles through the infield after one out. Rob Refsnyder was up, and then Refsnyder was down.
I asked Keller how that felt.
"Honestly, it was awesome," he'd reply with a slight smile.
And what was the key?
"Um ... stuff," he'd come back to that with a bigger smile. "Playing up more. I think that's gonna make it a little easier to get guys out, and get a lot more swings and misses than in previous years. And that's just also executing pitches, too."
The latter's really it. Which is why Perez wanted all the offspeed. Because if Keller's getting hitters to look low, then he comes at them with high heat, they'll have about as much chance of contact as poor Refsnyder up there.
"Outstanding," Perez said of that sequence.
It's been that kind of spring for Keller. Through three starts and 8 2/3 innings, he's yet to concede a run while striking out seven and walking one.
Look, I know, I know ... he's also the one still lugging the 7.97 career ERA, the 1.92 WHIP, the humiliating midsummer demotion to Class AAA Indianapolis just a few months ago, and so much less. By every account, he's been an epic disappointment to date.
But he's also undergone a dramatic transformation over the offseason in having regained the 100-mph velocity he was able to hit routinely as a top-rated prospect, though he had to go -- surprise! -- outside the organization and what-would-you-say-you-do-here pitching coach Oscar Marin to have that happen. And that fastball's held firm from the day he reported here and fired one by Bryan Reynolds in a live batting practice.
The only other pitcher anywhere in Major League Baseball right now with eight-plus scoreless innings: Justin Verlander.
Oh, and there's what Perez shared with me before this game as part of a long talk we had.
"That kid ... I've caught great pitchers. A lot of them in Cleveland," he began. "Corey Kluber. Trevor Bauer. Carlos Carrasco when he was at his best. Other guys. None of them have the stuff this one does. Not one."
He paused, then added, "He's just got to put it all together. He's got to believe. I don't know him yet. Not well enough. But I'm excited."
Exciting. Excited. And the best came from the most excitable athlete of all, Keller's best bud on the team.
"Mitch is about to be a dude," Cole Tucker told me. "Just wait."
We probably won't be waiting past April 7, the day of the season opener in St. Louis.
JOSH LAVALLEE / PIRATES
Mitch Keller pitches in the first inning Tuesday in Bradenton, Fla.
• Everything I've got to offer on Oneil Cruz being demoted is in an extra column devoted just to that.
• Three more home runs -- solo shots for Hoy Park and Daniel Vogelbach, a three-run monster for Kevin Newman -- pushed the Pirates' spring total to 24, one behind the Yankees for most in the majors.
"I don't really think that'll maintain, us leading the league in homers," Shelton conceded with a small laugh. "But the fact that our guys have taken some good swings and gotten some balls elevated is a positive sign. I think it shows for the work they did in the wintertime. I'm just happy that our guys are taking good swings."
• A minute and change with Newman on his new, more upright stance that contributed to his blast that landed well beyond left field on the former site of the Boys & Girls Club that used to be cited for tape-measure specials:
Anyone buying on Newman?
Hard to do so, since he hit, uh, .606, down here last spring, and then struggled to make solid contact all summer. But hey, as I mentioned to him in the conversation above, 2019 happened, too.
• Shelton, on Newman, who, by the way, is now 5 for 14 with this bomb and two doubles: "What really stood out to me today in that at-bat was he took breaking ball down, breaking ball down to get himself into a fastball count, and then didn't miss the fastball. The full scope of that at-bat was really important. It wasn't just the fact that he hit the home run or took a good swing. It was the pitches he didn't swing at before that and put in play that really led to him being able to take a good swing."
Weird thing about Newman: He's capable of really hard contact, which can't be said -- obviously -- of most soft-contact guys. That's why, I thought, Shelton's observation was telling. It could be more a matter of selectivity.
• The ball is so loud off Vogelbach's bat. In batting practice, there's no need to even look to see who it is when it's his turn in the cage. Just sharing.
• Perez would love to have some of that sound back in his own hitting.
He was limited to 44 games last season in Cleveland because of a lingering right shoulder injury, and his .149/.245/.319 slash line painfully reflected that. As recently as 2019, he'd slugged 24 home runs, triple the next-highest total of any of his eight big-league season.
"I can do that again. I know it," he told me. "I've worked so hard for this season. My shoulder's great. My finger's great."
He had surgery on his ring finger last May after it was broken on a crossed-up pitch sequence.
"I know how I can hit, and that's how I want to hit for this team."
In this game, he lined a single, then cracked an RBI double along the third base chalk in the fourth.
"I liked that one," he'd say of the latter. "Before, with my shoulder, that was a grounder to short. This was hard."
My guess is he'll open the season batting ninth, in large part because of his 2021 numbers. But getting something, anything from the bottom sure would be welcome.
• Reynolds seems deeply disturbed at the Pirates' handling of his arbitration status.
I'm kidding. He never changes. This guy could be trapped in a blazing inferno, and he'd be casually reaching about the couch to try to find the remote.
• Three more relievers kept their run-free springs going with an egg each: David Bednar, Aaron Fletcher and Heath Hembree. Bednar's obviously a lock, but the other two are expected to be part of the bullpen, too.
In general, this group's fared well. Not so for the starters, Keller aside.
• Thanks for reading my baseball coverage today. I mean that. Fun to be back at it.
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
National anthem Tuesday afternoon, LECOM Park, Bradenton, Fla.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Schedule
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• Ke’Bryan Hayes, third baseman, sustained a minor right ankle sprain during practice over the weekend. He's 'day-to-day,' per Shelton.
• Michael Chavis, infielder, has been out since Friday because of right shoulder tightness.
THE ROSTER
Three moves made today, leaving 40 players in big-league camp:
• Cruz optioned to Class AAA Indianapolis
• LHP Cam Alldred reassigned to minors
• RHP Beau Sulser reassigned to minors
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Daniel Vogelbach, DH
2. Bryan Reynolds, CF
3. Ben Gamel, RF
4. Yoshi Tsutsugo, 1B
5. Greg Allen, LF
6. Hoy Park, 3B
7. Cole Tucker, 2B
8. Roberto Perez, C
9. Kevin Newman, SS
And for Alex Cora's Red Sox:
1. Christian Arroyo, RF
2. Travis Shaw, 1B
3. Bobby Dalbec, 3B
4. Kevin Plawecki, C
5. Christin Stewart, LF
6. Rob Refsnyder, CF
7. Franchy Cordero, DH
8. Yolmer Sanchez, 2B
9. Jonathan Arauz, SS
THE SCHEDULE
The team's headed way down I-75, a 2.5-hour drive, to Fort Myers to face the Twins at Hammond Stadium. Bryse Wilson will start against Minnesota's Josh Winder. I'll be there.
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.
