Pittsburgh Pirates fans react to heartwarming video of Mitch Keller being told that he is the team’s Opening Day starter: "Tears welling up"
Pittsburgh Pirates fans got a peek behind the curtain Wednesday. The team shared a video of manager Derek Shelton telling pitcher Mitch Keller that he will be the team's Opening Day starter. Keller is a former heralded prospect who has had a rough first four seasons of his major-league career and has worked to improve on his results.
Keller will take the mound against the Cincinnati Reds on March 30th. The Reds ushered his career in by putting six runs on him during the first inning of an 8-1 loss on Memorial Day 2019. Since then, the soon-to-be 27-year-old has a career record of 12-29 with a 5.00 ERA and 1.57 WHIP in 68 starts.
In an interview earlier in Spring Training, Keller told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
"It would be cool to get some revenge for that first day, because that first inning really sucked. After my debut, I settled down and got in there. But, yeah, that would be that’d be really cool."
The moment Mitch found out is everything. 🥲 https://t.co/oZJgThZjP2
Keller was a two-time minor-league pitcher of the year while in the Pittsburgh Pirates' farm system. He still has a lot of fans among Pirates supporters, who are cheering for him to turn it around in 2023.
Chills. & look at that hug, you can see the connection and what it looks like when people grind together. Great moment
twitter.com/Pirates/status…
Mitch worked to increase his velocity, which he did. Then he realized he needed more movement to go with velocity, which he accomplished. Big season ahead. No doubt. twitter.com/Pirates/status…
Amazing moment twitter.com/Pirates/status…
Keller went 5-12 with the Pittsburgh Pirates last season, but posted a 3.91 ERA with a 1.39 WHIP and 138 strikeouts in 29 starts and 31 total games pitched. The Pittsburgh faithful believe the numbers show promise that better days are ahead for their Opening Day hurler.
Mitch Keller, despite all the ups and downs, the calls about being a bust, continued to keep grinding. He gets opening day assignment. Hopefully his enormous potential will finally result in the kind of production that people expected when he was drafted twitter.com/pirates/status…
CHILLS
BASEBALL IS THE BEST twitter.com/Pirates/status…
I love this. #letsgobucs twitter.com/pirates/status…
Keller's 2022 came on the heels of a disastrous 2021 in which he had an ERA of 6.17 with a 1.79 WHIP and 92 strikeouts in 23 starts. According to those in the Pirates circle, he has worked hard to put those days behind him.
This is really cool. I don’t think we, as fans, truly understand how much certain moments and milestones in a player’s life really mean to them. These videos help. twitter.com/pirates/status…
This made me happy. Congrats @mkeller11 awesome stuff twitter.com/pirates/status…
Baseball is beautiful. Tears welling up. 🥹 twitter.com/Pirates/status…
Pittsburgh Pirates fans are hoping that Keller can turn out to be a Comeback Player of the Year candidate in 2023. His fastball velocity took an uptick in 2022, in a season where he also added a sinker and sweeper to his pitch routine. He's also added a cutter to the mix this spring.
Baseball is the best. What Mitch had to do to get here. Going from top prospect to where it looked it just wasn’t going to work out. He never gave up, made the adjustments, redefined his game and now is the Opening Day starter. twitter.com/pirates/status…
Pittsburgh Pirates hoping for big things from Keller
"It was actually pretty emotional for him. He was pretty fired up. Those are special moments. This is a kid who was a very highly touted prospect and had to grind a little bit and discovered himself. It was a cool moment. Gave him a bottle of champagne and told him and [his wife] Clancy to enjoy it."
Shelton said that Keller's "promotion" to the Opening Day starter was much deserved, telling MLB.com about notifying him of the honor.