On verge of 200 strikeouts, Pirates pitcher Mitch Keller views benchmarks as a steppingstone

Now that Mitch Keller has established himself as an All-Star and the anchor of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ starting rotation, what he wants next is to complete a pair of benchmarks.

Keller wants to join the 200-200 club.

The 27-year-old right-hander is two strikeouts away from reaching 200 and needs to pitch 17⅓ innings over his final three starts to toss 200 innings. Both would be career firsts for Keller, who needs to make two more starts to reach 32 for the first time in a season.

“It’s really cool. It’s what starting pitchers strive to do,” said Keller, who is 12-9 with a 4.04 ERA and 1.24 WHIP entering Wednesday’s start against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. “To be on track this year and hopefully get it, it’s going to be great. That’s what you set your goals for at the beginning of the year. It sets you up for next year, too.”

That’s the primary goal for Keller, whose focus is on finding a routine between starts that will allow him to build the stamina and strength for a postseason run next year.

Keller made 29 starts in 31 appearances last season after spending time in the bullpen at midseason that catapulted him into a strong second half, when he posted a 3.09 ERA over 70 innings in 13 starts. That earned Keller a spot atop the rotation and his first Opening Day start.

“I’ve always believed in him,” Pirates catcher Jason Delay said. “I genuinely believed he was going to have this type of season. That’s how highly I think of him as a pitcher. Even going back to last year, you see the pieces were there. It was just a matter of putting it together consistently, which he’s done.”

Keller has been searching for consistency his whole career. He had an outstanding first half, going 9-4 with a 3.31 ERA and 1.12 WHIP in 117 innings over 19 starts, but is 3-5 with a 5.34 ERA and 1.46 WHIP over 65⅔ innings in his last 11 starts. His most recent start was one of his best, as Keller tossed a two-hitter with seven strikeouts against one walk over eight shutout innings in a 2-0 win over Washington last Thursday.

“I want to make 32 starts in the regular season, then hopefully whatever it is after that — hopefully, four more or whatever it may be,” Keller said. “I’m using this time in September to figure out what I need to do to be the best I can next year.”

Delay has noticed a change in Keller’s confidence on the mound, how he’s been able to get out of jams and limit damage after struggling to do so in his first three major league seasons.

That was a message Pirates manager Derek Shelton sent to Keller in a meeting last season, warning that he looked like he was expecting something bad to happen instead of making something good happen.

Shelton sees 200 strikeouts as a meaningful milestone for Keller, given the inconsistency of his four-seam fastball after the All-Star break. Keller went 0-4 with a 6.28 ERA in five starts in July before rebounding to prove his struggles were more of a fluke than his success.

“When we saw him go away and have the inconsistent starts for about two or three weeks, it was lack of fastball execution,” Shelton said. “Early in the year, we probably saw fastball execution about as good as it was in the game on both sides. I think he’s done a nice job getting back to it.”

Keller simply shrugs, saying he’s following the Pirates’ plan of attack. His repertoire hasn’t changed so much as his pitching with conviction has become more commonplace than in the past.

“I know he put in a ton of work, and you can see it in his stuff,” Delay said. “His stuff has been good all year and has stayed where it needs to be. A lot of guys, you get to this time of the season, and you see a big velocity drop. There has been times when we’ve seen the velocity drop, but he has so many weapons that he’s able to navigate that.”

That was evident against the Nationals, when Keller’s four-seam fastball velocity dipped to the low 90s in the eighth inning. So Keller leaned instead on his curveball and changeup, pitches he hadn’t thrown in three or four starts, to record a clean final inning.

“I think it speaks to how many different weapons he has,” Delay said. “He’s not necessarily relying on his fastball at all times. … He has so many weapons and he’s able to do so many things that, when the velocity dips, he can rely on the other weapons.”

Like most starting pitchers at this late stage of the season, Keller is fighting fatigue and learning how to find a routine that allows him to grind through it. He’s seeking advice from veteran pitchers on how to prepare between starts, toying with whether to skip a bullpen session or a weightlifting workout to rest so he’s at his best for every start.

“I definitely view this as a steppingstone into next year,” Keller said. “We can only get better. Everything I’m doing, I’m trying to get better here and there — whether that’s pitch design, attacking hitters or game-planning — and trying to figure out how I can always strive to get better for next year.”