ST. LOUIS – Nine years ago, Mike Trout was not yet the best baseball player on the planet. He was an 18-year-old prospect tearing up the Midwest League with the Angels’ Class A affiliate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The way he played then stood out to a 14-year-old Cedar Rapids native by the name of Mitch Keller.
Keller said he “grew up” watching Trout, the eight-time All-Star and two-time American League Most Valuable Player Award winner. Now, the right-hander will get to face Trout for the first time as Keller returns to the Majors on Monday night at Angel Stadium (10:07 p.m. ET, free on MLB.TV).
Keller often went to the ballpark to watch the Cedar Rapids Kernels when Trout was on their roster. One home run Trout crushed over the batter’s eye, Keller said, was the “craziest thing I’ve ever seen.” So Keller’s excited to face Trout as well as future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols, but he’s not going to be too star-struck.
“If you start looking at them like that, then you’re already a step behind. I feel like I can go up against anybody with the stuff that I have, so I don’t really think about that,” Keller said on Sunday morning at Busch Stadium before the Pirates’ 11-9 loss to the Cardinals. “It’ll be kind of cool to face Trout, though.”
In need of a fifth starter, the Pirates will officially recall Keller before Monday’s series opener and give the top prospect another shot in their rotation. Keller struggled in his first three Major League starts, posting a 10.50 ERA with 21 hits allowed and six walks in 12 innings, but he’s ready for another chance to prove himself.
“Obviously, getting back up to where you want to be is a good thing,” Keller said. “It feels really good to come back and get another opportunity.”
The Pirates sent Keller to Triple-A Indianapolis with a to-do list focused mostly on his pitch sequencing. Keller threw his fastball about 65 percent of the time in his first three starts, and he only used his curveball 9.1 percent of the time. Keller’s experience with the Pirates reinforced the importance of throwing his breaking balls for strikes, which he said he did more consistently after returning to Triple-A.
In eight Triple-A starts between his big league stints, Keller posted a 4.14 ERA while striking out 49 and walking 10 in 45 2/3 innings.
“I think it went really well. Just going over pitch sequencing and the splits of pitches, maybe a little bit less fastball and more offspeed,” Keller said. “Really working on throwing offspeed for strikes in any count.
“It kept hitters off-balance and just made my fastball play up a little bit more than it already did, just because they didn’t know it was coming. … If I don’t [do that], I’m going to get into a bad hitter’s count or I could walk them. My mentality was that I had to throw it for a strike.”
Around the horn
• Before Sunday’s series finale in St. Louis, the Pirates reinstated right-hander Clay Holmes from the 10-day injured list and optioned reliever Parker Markel to Triple-A. Holmes pitched in the eighth inning on Sunday afternoon, entering the game with two on and no outs. He then retired the side, striking out two and walking one.
• Rookie Bryan Reynolds started in right field on Sunday afternoon after starting in right on Friday and left on Saturday; before that, he started six straight games in left field at PNC Park. Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said Saturday that the shift is related to analytics indicating where balls are more likely to be hit against that game’s starting pitcher. The Pirates want to put Reynolds, the best of their corner outfielders, in the more challenging position.
• On Saturday, Adam Frazier hit the fifth leadoff home run of his career and his third of the season, with the last two coming against the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright. Frazier’s five leadoff homers rank sixth in franchise history, tied with Cal Abrams, Omar Moreno and Bill Virdon. Barry Bonds is the Pirates’ all-time leader with 20 leadoff homers.
• Right-hander Rookie Davis, out since June 8 due to a right forearm injury, worked three scoreless innings on Sunday in his first Minor League rehab appearance for Triple-A Indianapolis.