On Monday morning, the International League named Mitch Keller as their Pitcher of the Week. Keller started on Thursday night and threw six shutout innings on two hits, with three walks and eight strikeouts against Columbus in the first game back from the All-Star break.
In this game, Keller went to his breaking pitches early and often. While I didn’t keep an exact count, the rough estimate from watching the entire start was 45 fastballs, 30 curves and 25 sliders. His changeup appeared to have been used just once, thrown against former teammate Max Moroff, which resulted in a fly ball to center field.
Keller leads the International League with a 3.07 ERA, which is 54 points lower than the second best mark in the league. He has a 1.28 WHIP, which ranks third in the league, as well as 96 strikeouts, which has him six behind the league leader.
This is his second Pitcher of the Week award this season, winning for the first time back in late April.
