Brad Keller's regular-season debut in the White Sox organization was a successful one, as he demonstrated reasonable control over five innings of two-run ball in Charlotte's 6-2 victory over Jacksonville on Thursday night.
Statcast's classification of Keller's offerings might be slightly muddled, because it has him throwing 23 changeups topping out at 93.6 mph, while only throwing three sinkers that averaged 93.1, but there's little separation between his fastballs and offspeed pitches in his previous MLB Statcast data.
What's more important is that Keller threw strikes, because thoracic outlet issues prevented him from spending much time in the strike zone. He issued 45 walks against just 31 strikeouts over 45⅓ innings with the Royals last year, and his control worsened as the season progressed. From mid-May through the end of the season, which covers multiple rehab stints at three minor league levels, Keller issued 45 walks over 30 innings and threw barely half of his pitches for strikes, so coming out and throwing 47 of 73 pitches for strikes (64 percent) checks one obvious box before the effectiveness of his pitches comes into question.
In other Knights news, Francys Romero says Oscar Colás is being optioned back to Charlotte after one game and one plate appearance. That does reinforce the notion that the White Sox are committed to extended minor-league time for Colás, and maybe a team that is so reliant on platooning can't afford to play a man short as long as they did earlier this year. The corresponding move could better explain their intentions.
Charlotte 6, Jacksonville 2
- Colson Montgomery was 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.
- Zach DeLoach, 2-for-5 with two strikeouts, and he was also caught stealing.
- Adam Hackenberg singled twice, struck out twice and was plunked once.
- Brad Keller's org debut: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR
Rocket City 5, Birmingham 2 (6 innings, rain)
- Terrell Tatum and Jacob Burke both walked once and struck out twice.
- Brooks Baldwin was 1-for-2 with a double and an HBP.
- Wilfred Veras, 1-for-3 with a K.
- Edgar Quero, 1-for-3.
- Bryan Ramos was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
- Tim Elko went 0-for-3.
- Ky Bush: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 1 HR
- Jared Kelley: 1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Kannapolis 4, Augusta 1
- Rikuu Nishida went 1-for-4.
- Ronny Hernandez was 2-for-4 with a K.
- Aldrin Batista: 5.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 43 of 61 pitches for strikes.
