Keller’s Value to Pirates Beyond Pitching Record

Numbers, in baseball, could lie. Although I might be in the shrinking minority that believes wins and losses among MLB pitchers do matter, Mitch Keller is far and away a more effective starting right-handed pitcher than the 1-9 record he currently owns.

Heading into Thursday’s split doubleheader in Detroit for the Pirates, Keller sports a 4.08 ERA, which isn’t intolerable for starts in today’s game, has 68 strikeouts in 88.1 innings of work, and has surrendered 88 hits. Most importantly, Keller keeps his teammates in the games he is on the mound.

Keller, who has been the Pirates’ Opening Day pitcher in 2023 and 2024, is credited with 11 quality starts in 2025. A quality start is when a pitcher is on the mound for at least six innings and allows three earned runs or less.

Everything about Keller’s work screams consistency. He gives his teammates a shot to succeed every outing.

This is where numbers don’t tell the whole story of a player’s performance. To remember when Keller earned his first victory of the season, it wasn’t long after spring training concluded. It was on March 28, in Miami, when Pittsburgh came away with a 4-3 win over the Marlins.

It wasn’t all that long ago, during the 2023 season, that Keller racked up 210 strikeouts – a record for the most strikeouts in a regular season by a right-handed Pirates’ pitcher. That season, Keller was also selected for the National League All-Star Game.

At 29, Keller’s best days are ahead of him. His career 37-59 record is sure to improve once Pittsburgh’s bats come alive this season. The Pirates’ management believes in him. During spring training 2024, at LECOM Park, Keller was signed by the club to a five-year, $77 million extension. A fiscally conservative ownership, as the Pirates wouldn’t just give out a large contract if they didn’t have complete trust in their investment.

Pittsburgh, no doubt, has been going through some tough times on the field this season. Leading up to their twin bill with the Tigers on Thursday, the Pirates are 29-45. Once the hitters come around more consistently, pitchers like Keller, Paul Skenes, Bailey Falter, and Andrew Heaney’s work should yield more victories. The overall talent of the club has far more potential than its current position in the National League Central basement.

In the Pirates’ clubhouse, Keller appears as popular as any on the roster. During spring training at LECOM Park, Keller set up a miniature basketball hoop. Located at the far right end of the clubhouse, where several pitchers’ stalls were connected, it wasn’t uncommon in the mornings to see them shooting baskets from a long distance.

Keller’s basket seemed to bring his fellow pitchers together before morning workouts and make them closer as a unit. The friendships that have grown, all through an orange Nerf basketball, are a sight for other teams to be jealous of.

In all aspects Keller is a valued leader for the Pirates’ pitching staff. Improvement on his win-loss record will come. Patience required. Besides being a proven quality starter, Keller is a quality person. No team can have enough of them.