The Pirates announced today that they have activated right-hander Trevor Williams. To open an active roster spot, the club optioned fellow righty Mitch Keller.
Williams ended up missing just over a month of action with a side strain. Before going on the injured list on May 17, the 27-year-old Williams pitched to a matching 3.33 ERA/3.33 FIP with 7.0 K/9, 1.67 BB/9 and .67 HR/9 in 54 innings. Williams, Joe Musgrove and the currently injured pair of Jordan Lyles and Jameson Taillon have been the Pirates’ most productive starters this season. Lyles, out since June 10 with left hamstring tightness, will make a minor league rehab start Sunday, Adam Berry of MLB.com tweets.
Pittsburgh turned to Keller, 23, in hopes the premier prospect would help provide answers for an injury-laden rotation. Instead, Keller has allowed 14 earned runs on 21 hits and six walks through 12 innings and three starts thus far. But Keller was fairly effective in a loss to Detroit on Tuesday, when he yielded two earned runs (four total) on four hits and two walks in five innings, and has already notched 15 strikeouts in his big league career.
Keller looks shellshocked. Good stuff but it’s rarely in the strike zone. He’ll learn from this…..at least I hope.
He walked 25 in 58 innings against batters who rarely walk. Hes another guy who just doesn’t get it. Walks are the worst thing a pitcher can allow
He also struck out 74…..
74 K’s don’t take away the nearly 4 walks per 9.
Glasnow also had walk problems throughout his entire minor and major league career and flipped a switch and it went away. Hopefully that will happen with Keller. Can’t teach raw stuff, but the Pirates try to neuter it which aggrevates me.
Keller also has has a history of a slow start when moving up a level and making adjustments then doing well. Since there is a track record, no reason to believe that he won’t do it in the show as well. Time will tell
He got better each start.They also did not want to bring him up that quickly but were forced to do so.As I mentioned in another post they should bring him up again in August and give him starts if he continues to pitch very well in AAA.
I would also be curious as to how well Brubaker can do in the MLs.He may have helped the Pirates out during this very rough period if he was not hurt.
Unless Musgrove gets his act together he should be a candidate for the bullpen.If Brault continues to finally pitch well they will need a long man.
Remember that they will have good reinforcements next year with Kuhl and Santana returning if they can pitch like before.
When they needed Archer the most he did not produce.There is no guarantee that he is worth the money going forward.
A friendly word of warning though: We are in an age of constant surveillance these days, so it’s getting near the time to
beware of…..Cam Vieaux.
I love when ppl comment like they understand how hard it is to pitch in the mlb cysoxsale I imagine your a former big leaguer who didn’t walk anyone to make those comments right? Don’t blast players when you have no idea the physical and mental skill it takes to be a effective mlb pitcher. None of us commenting know what it true takes yet so many ppl bash so many players it’s pathetic.
Thanks…..that needed to be said. It gets old hearing MLB players referred to as garbage because they hit around .200. Forgetting that he IS in the majors which still is the best of the best. Of course pure talent is paramount but the mental game separates the men from the boys.
clueless!
great observation
So we should never criticize a player because they’re all better than us? Yeah, they sure are. Chris Davis is a lot better than any of us are at baseball should we not criticize him for sucking relative to other professionals?
Such a dumb comment. So we shouldn’t have a comments section then and talk about players, it should only be a select group of former MLB players who can post here, on twitter, and on blogs. Fans and followers of teams can say what they please and a lot of times, guys who never played the game are the best scouts and coaches.
It’s clear he will be the number 4 next season let his secondary pitches develop until we move Jordan in a trade. Hoping we can secure a high end lefty strike out starting pitching to go behind Jameson if and when they move Marte.
Jordan Lyles is not signed for next season.
I think that they want to give Keller more time in AAA which is fine but if he does well there it may be good to get him some innings near the end of this already wasted season.
Brault has been pitching well so he may deserve to keep his spot if he continues.I think that he is the type of pitcher who needs regular work.
Archer and Musgrove need to get better to stay in the rotation.
They should consider resigning Lyles if he comes back and pitches well as he was their best pitcher for the first five weeks.
Some of your comments are like you just watched a little league game! These players are making tons of money and still get paid for bad performance after bad performance either pitching or batting if this happened in “real jobs” they would be fired! Absolutely ridiculous!
Re: Williams
Well that didn’t go well vs. the worst hitting team in the majors. Probably rust causing a few pitches ending up away from where he wanted them to go. He’ll be alright.
Not so sure about Archer. Might be one of the few pitchers, who after being traded to the Pirates, hasn’t improved.
I am assuming that Dickerson and Cabrera are being showcased for a trade, and once that happens, we’ll see Polanco getting regular duty. The former two are not part of the Bucs future, but Polanco certainly is.
Bucs ain’t gonna make the playoffs this year, but the future looks bright. Especially if they can get some decent prospects for Lyle, Cabrera, Dickerson and maybe even Archer.
Future always looks bright for the Buccos.
Then reality sets in.
Keller isn’t the problem. Look at his pitching distribution. Fastballs-a-plenty. Searage CONSTANTLY makes them throw fastballs rather than their best pitches. Look at what happened with Morton, Cole, and Glasnow when they were finally allowed to just pitch.
The ole #1, that’s all Diaz seems to be able to signal for some reason. This isn’t AAA, yet our pitch mix up is horrible. Every hitter just sits on a fastball and tries to time it. I’ll never understand it. Then again, does anyone understand what the Pirates are trying to do?
why send Keller down? He’s 23 and your not making playoffs so let him take some lumps and learn from it. I don’t understand the moves they are making.