Well, well, well, how the tables have turned. The White Sox have announced that they have signed Brad Keller to a minor league deal with an invitation to major league Spring Training.
Before we dive into the obvious baggage associated with this move, let’s take a look at his on the field performance.
Keller has spent his entire six year major league career, with the Kansas City Royals, now adding to the list of former Kansas City Royals signed by Chris Getz this off-season. In his career, he has a 4.27 ERA over 679 innings pitched. His career WHIP is a little high, sitting at 1.446. He has had some problems with walks as of late, as he averages four walks per nine innings, while striking out six in that timeframe.
Last year, he started nine games for the Royals, pitching in 11 games total. He threw 45 innings, pitching to a 4.57 ERA, which isn’t terrible. However, his control was, as he was averaging a horrible 8.9 walks per nine innings. That simply will not cut it in the major leagues, as if you give up that many free passes, you are toast.
Beyond that, he has struggled the last few years with the Royals, as he posted a 5 ERA+ in 2022 and in 2021. He played some of his best baseball in the Covid shortened season, as he pitched to a 2.47 ERA over nine starts. Prior to that, he was pretty solid in 2018, posting a 3.08 ERA. 2019 was just an okay year for him, as he posted a 4.19 ERA over 28 starts.
Needless to say he has not been as great since 2020, but he has shown in the past that he can be an effective major league starter. However, that is not why most White Sox fans are familiar with him.
He is most known for his on the field beef with former White Sox shortstop, Tim Anderson. This breakdown by Jomboy will remind a lot of fans of this famous rivalry. This situation also features a new White Sox player, Martin Maldonado.
This started a rivalry between Tim Anderson and Brad Keller, as it took over the MLB for a while. It also turned into a plethora of media appearances for Tim Anderson, like this one here:
Luckily for all the parties involved, Tim Anderson is no longer on the team, so there should not be as much tension in the clubhouse as there could have been if Anderson was still around. I’m sure there are guys that were around for all this that might have some negative feelings towards Keller because of this situation, but most people get over that once they become teammates.
Keller will now join Spring Training almost a month late and try to make a push for one of the last rotation or bullpen spots. At this point, I’m not sure how likely it is he will make the team, but he could accept an assignment to AAA and come up if there in an injury.
The battle for the last few pitcher roster spots will be a fun one as camp winds down, as there are a number of combinations the White Sox can have on Opening Day.
