Keller's 2020 audition continues in Classic

PITTSBURGH -- Before Mitch Keller picked up his first Major League win Monday in Anaheim, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle made it clear they were committed to keeping Keller in their rotation the rest of the season. Whatever development remains for Pittsburgh’s top prospect, it’ll take place in the Majors.

“It really means they’re looking at me for next year, too,” Keller said. “I’m just going to take this opportunity and roll with it, do the best that I can, learn while I’m doing it and get some really good experience, too.”

Keller can also prove himself worthy of a spot in the Pirates’ 2020 rotation with a strong performance down the stretch. His last outing was a big step in that direction, as he allowed only two runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks while striking out four in five innings against the Angels on Monday.

Keller made more effective use of his curveball, throwing the pitch 17 times and more effectively landing it in or near the strike zone. He also threw 18 sliders and four changeups. But mostly, Keller relied on a four-seam fastball that averaged 96.1 mph and maxed out at 98.3 mph. He threw 55 of them on the night; the Angels fouled off 20, took seven for called strikes, swung and missed on four and put nine in play.

“If they were going to be late on my fastball, I’m not going to slow it down for them,” Keller said. “I felt really good out there with everything that I had. We just went with it. … It was something they were reacting to, then just being able to throw the curveball for a strike and for put-away, too.”

Keller’s next assignment will come under the national spotlight. He will take the mound for the Pirates in a nationally televised game Sunday night as they play the Cubs in the third annual Little League Classic presented by GEICO at BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field in Williamsport.

When the Pirates beat the Cardinals in the first Little League Classic two years ago, Keller was still pitching for Double-A Altoona, less than a month after being promoted from Class A Advanced Bradenton.

He’s a fitting choice for this assignment, though: a Major League game in a Minor League park in front of a Little League audience. The 23-year-old just graduated from Triple-A and really isn’t all that far removed from his youth baseball days spent pitching in tournaments around Iowa and the Midwest for his team in USSSA Baseball. Now, he’s eager to put on a show in front of the Little League crowd.

“It looked like a really cool experience for those guys,” Keller said. “I’m just really excited to start in it and be able to pitch, one, against the Cubs and, two, at a really cool place like that with all the kids around. It’s going to be cool.”

Getting a look at Gonzalez

Kevin Newman is the Pirates’ shortstop of the present, and their shortstop of the future is either him or Cole Tucker. But the Bucs still want to take a look at their shortstop of Opening Day 2019: Erik González.

Gonzalez started at shortstop Saturday against Cubs lefty Jon Lester, with Newman shifted over to second base and Tucker on the bench. It seemed like a curious decision, given Newman’s success and Tucker’s prospect pedigree, especially as Gonzalez carried a .194/.270/.254 slash line into Saturday’s game.

But as they evaluate their personnel with an eye on next season and beyond, the Pirates want to see what they have in the 27-year-old Gonzalez and where he might fit on future clubs. Pittsburgh acquired the former Cleveland infielder over the offseason and named him the starting shortstop in Spring Training, only to see him miss more than three months with a broken collarbone following an April 19 collision with center fielder Starling Marte.

“We need to get him on the field. You can’t evaluate a guy when he doesn’t play,” Hurdle said. “He went down and did all the work we could ask him to do in Triple-A. We’ve had conversations multiple times about how that plays out here. You don’t know. He was our starting shortstop. I don’t know where we’d be if he didn’t get hurt. I don’t know where Newman would be, how it’d all play out. Tucker may never have gotten here.

“In the bigger scheme of things, as we evaluate our personnel the last six weeks of the season, we need to find out where Mr. Gonzalez is. We’ve got another couple weeks before September callups. There could be opportunity for other guys to play then.”