Mitch Keller

BIOGRAPHY

Mitch Keller was born on April 4, 1996, in Cedars Rapid, Iowa. He is a pitcher in the MLB. 

Keller was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second round of the 2014 Major League Baseball draft out of Xavier High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He signed with the Pirates on June 14, 2014 for a signing bonus worth $1,000,000. He had been committed to play college baseball for the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Keller made his professional debut with the Gulf Coast League Pirates, where he spent all of 2014, pitching to a 1.98 ERA in 27.1 innings. Keller spent 2015 with the Bristol Pirates. He spent 2016 with the West Virginia Power where he was 8-5 with a 2.46 ERA in 23 starts. He also pitched in one game for the Bradenton Marauders at the end of the season.

In 2017, Keller began the season with Bradenton. After going 6-3 with a 3.14 ERA in 15 starts, he was promoted to the Altoona Curve in August and finished the season there with a 2-2 record and 3.12 ERA in six starts.

MLB.com ranked Keller as Pittsburgh's top prospect going into the 2018 season. He began the season with Altoona. The Pirates added him to their 40-man roster after the season.

In 2020, Keller registered a 2.91 ERA with 16 strikeouts in 21.1 innings of work for the Pirates.

In 2021 he went 5–11 with a 6.17 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 100+2⁄3 innings. It would stand as the 3rd worst ERA among pitchers with a minimum of 100 innings pitched in 2021.

To start the 2022 season, Keller gave up a 6.61 ERA in 32+2⁄3 innings of work. However, after adding a sinker to his mix, Keller would go on to throw for 3.21 ERA and 3.67 FIP across his remaining 126+1⁄3 innings. Keller gave up the 703rd and final home run to Albert Pujols on October 4, 2022. In total, Keller pitched to an ERA of 3.91, striking out 138 batters, to go along with a Wins Above Replacement value of 2.1 over 159 innings during the 2022 season.

On January 13, 2023, Keller agreed to a one-year, $2.4375 million contract with the Pirates, avoiding salary arbitration.