ALTOONA, Pa. -- Pressure is bestowed upon everybody the Pirates draft in the early rounds and being selected in the second round of the 2014 Draft by Pittsburgh, puts quite a lot of pressure on to Mitch Keller whether it be fair or not.
That pressure can eat a mentally weak player alive both on and off the field as they adjust to said pressure and attempt to live up to the lofty expectations given to them upon signing or being drafted.
"Being a top prospect, before even take your first pitch in the big leagues, you have that pressure building and living up to those expectations," Keller said recently in an interview with DK Pittsburgh Sports.
As a top prospect, you have every body clamoring for you to be the next best thing while trying to put their own mark on his career which can ultimately backfire in a big way for a big-time prospect at the age of 18 like Keller once was. It can lead down a bad path should one choose, but for Keller it's now about focusing on himself and his game.
"I was super young when I first got into everything. At that point, I was just kind of listening and just going out there and pitching and I think that's kind of why I did well I wasn't thinking too much about everything," Keller said. "I think I've kind of learned over the years it's just kind of what feels good to you is what I really need to do and you know, everybody wants to help you out in some sort of way especially being the top prospect everybody wants to be able to say their input have their their thing that they got you right or whatever."
The struggle has been real for Keller who now finds himself back in Triple A Indianapolis after failing to have large amounts of success in Pittsburgh to the tune of a 7.04 ERA for a team in the cellar of the NL Central.
"Kind of taking a step back and realizing those expectations aren't the ones I have for myself, I don't really have those expectations," Keller said. "I'm just trying to have the best career that I can, I think it's been great."
Being sent down to the minors after being called up to Pittsburgh and staying there can usually go one of two ways: Keller could implode and become even worse on the mound than what he was with the big league team or he can use it as a sort of reset button to get back to the bigs and get back to the form that once made him a top prospect.
So far, Keller has picked the reset button.
"I feel like I'm getting, really close, if not back to where I used to be," Keller said.
It's not just been Keller focusing on himself alone as he's been working extensively with pitching coach Joel Hanrahan to return to the dominant form he once showed coming up through the minor league system. To do that though, Keller has had to go back to the basics and get back to his simpler roots.C
"Hanny's more of a keep it simple, not too much. goes into anything. He's got his reasonings for doing things, but what he's giving you is super simple," Keller said. "One thing to work on. Simple. Keep it simple. But I think that helps me a lot. Because I've never been really complicated person, my delivery is simple, everything is simple. So the more we can simplify things the better."
Simplifying things for Keller has allowed him to get back to a more athletic delivery and help him from overthinking while he's on the rubber.
"I wasn't feeling the same, obviously, last year, and then even this year, my velocity was down, but my velocities gone back up," Keller said. "I've been down here, just kind of working on rhythm and time and nothing's too big, but just kind of get some more athleticism in my delivery and it's kind of cleaned itself up."
Keller is not a fiery guy or a pitcher that shows much, if any emotion when he's on the mound which is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it allows him to be even keel throughout his outing and a curse because the lack of emotion is often times misconstrued for not caring or a lack of confidence.
"You got to have success. It's easy to say that he's not pitching with conviction. He's not pitching with confidence. But you know, what i what i saw from Mitch, when he came down, is it's just the way he looks," Hanrahan said. "I think he's a competitor. He's a grinder he's out there trying to compete and he's doing everything with conviction. It's not that he's not out there competing, he's not quitting. You know, it's just finding the right. I don't even know what to say, right. You know, I don't think he's not competing. I think he's a big competitor."
That competitive nature helped Keller climb the ladder quickly within the farm system and get to Pittsburgh only to see mixed results.
"The game of baseball pretty hard. I think anybody will tell you that failure in itself sucks. I've been pretty, pretty dominant through it all," Keller said. " I get up there and don't do as well, it kind of sucks. But we just got to have to pull it all back. And when I got sent back down, when Hanrahan and I talked, it was kind of like what did I used to do really well and what had changed? And what do I need to get back to and ultimately got back to being athletic and trying to pound down in the zone again. It's cleaned up a lot of my slider, my curveball and has even made my change up a little better."
There's still a lot to be learned and developed as Keller works his way back to Pittsburgh and the organization is assuredly taking their time with him as he's not gone past 5.1 innings of action in a game yet. The good news is Keller is in both a good spot mentally and physically.
"Whether it's starter, reliever or whatever, just having a good, solid career there," Keller said. "Knowing that I was doing the best I can and I think that I can get back to the way I was in Altoona, even here in Indianapolis. Even starts in the big leagues where I've felt I could be a dominant pitcher. Just kind of having that consistency. Having that consistency, I think that would make me have a really successful career."
A confident Keller is exactly what the Pirates need right now both for their team, but also for Keller long term as he looks to sustain what has the potential to be a spectacular career if he can figure things out. His goal though, is to have that solid career and get back to the level he knows he can both play and compete at a high level at.
"It's been a lot of different things, mechanics wise, whatever it might be, but it's feeling fluid and athletic," Keller said. "We get on the mound and I'm feeling really good right now. I'm excited for what's to come."
• Up until being injured, Altoona Curve pitcher Roansy Contreras had an outside chance to get to the big leagues this year, but even with that it was still expected he'd be slowed down at some point this season by the organization.
"I think part of the plan anyway was for him to slow down a little bit. This has got to do I don't think he got to pitch last year. So you know, it's not like you know, him coming up AAA It was probably realistic, but the big leagues this year is probably out of the picture." Hanrahan said. "And I can't imagine that at this point. I don't think we'll see him here in Indy, but you know, I'm not in charge of that. I don't make those decisions. You know, a little thing that we that we really want with him is for him to be healthy at the end of the season and have a normal offseason be ready to go to spring training next year."
• Greensboro outfielder Jared Triolo has hit safely in 16 of his last 19 games hitting .367, but some bad news out of Greensboro to report as infielder Nick Gonzales was lifted Sunday with an injury. We will keep you posted on what's to come from that situation as we gain more information.
• Bradenton catcher Endy Rodriguez has now reached base in 21 straight games which includes a now 6-straight games with a hit to go with it.
• We're moving and expanding our rankings section to a separate article. Keep an eye on that.
OFFICIAL LINKS
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• Greensboro
• Bradenton
YOUR TURN: We'd love to hear from you, too, especially if you make it out to see any of these prospects and affiliates play. Feel free to file your own original scouting reports and other observations in comments.
