Back to the Kansas City Royals Newsfeed

Breaking down Brad Keller’s Opening Day start

An Opening Day, Brad Keller was everything a staff ace should be. He went seven innings, gave up two hits with one walk and five strikeouts. Out of the 92 pitches he threw, Keller went to his four-seam 38% of the time, slider 33%, and his sinker at 29%. That’s an excellent pitch spread but you could make a case to lump the two fastballs together (four-seam/sinker) for a 71/29 percent ratio. For me, the pitches behave differently so they are their own separate entity regardless of velocity ties.

Keller was pretty dominant at times Thursday afternoon. Both fastballs were used mainly early in counts, generally with even split between the four-seam and sinker.