The Cubs are back at spring training following their trip to Tokyo and with less than a week to go until their domestic Opening Day against the Arizona Diamondbacks a couple more major roster decisions loom. That may ultimately include adding a hidden gem to their bullpen.
We saw some movement on Thursday, when Jordan Wicks and Eli Morgan were optioned, the latter coming as somewhat of a surprise. With Morgan’s departure from the bullpen fans were clued in on one of the major roster moves potentially coming for the Cubs. Morgan has one more minor league option year remaining and because of it he was the early-season sacrifice to Triple-A in the name of bullpen flexibility.
So, who has emerged as a spring training standout that pushed Morgan aside for now?
Hidden Gem Brad Keller?
The Cubs signed veteran pitcher Brad Keller to a minor league deal a couple weeks before the start of spring training and I’m not going to lie, I had little to no faith that anything would come from this.
Keller, now 29-years-old, was once a solid starting pitcher with the Kansas City Royals to begin his big-league career from 2018-20. However, the right-hander has declined during the past few years and has produced below-average results as a reliever once he lost his role as a starting pitcher.
Yet, here’s another example of why teams take chances on bounce back candidates. Keller entered camp with something he hasn’t really shown much of throughout his MLB career, a fastball consistently lighting up the radar gun in the upper 90s.
Brad Keller hitting 97mph for a strikeout 👀 pic.twitter.com/AIzXyZIsVD
— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) February 20, 2025
Keller has appeared in five Cactus League games so far in spring training for the Cubs and was selected to travel with the team to Japan as part of their taxi squad.
Out of the five outings in Arizona, Keller has only been roughed up once, allowing a pair of home runs to the Cleveland Guardians on March 1, leading to four earned runs. Overall, Keller has stuck out eight, walked two and given up eight hits in nine innings of work.
His increased fastball velocity paired up with a slider has the Cubs dreaming of Keller being a weapon out of the bullpen in 2025.
Via The Athletic.
Keller, a 6-foot-5 right-hander, impressed in the Cactus League with a fastball jump that has the Cubs envisioning him in shorter bursts, potentially as a late-inning reliever, rather than keeping him stretched out as a starter.
“We think this is an improving player, despite the experience and the age,” Counsell said. “Between the velocity and the slider, we still think there’s room to go. We’ve got our eyes open to possibly a different role than he’s ever done. That means maybe we get a different pitcher than we’ve seen. All those things have made him really interesting.”
If the Cubs do indeed add Keller to the bullpen next week, then the team also has to kick someone else off the 40-man roster to make room for Keller’s addition. That decision could be as easy as the Cubs designating switch-hitting utility man Vidal Bruján for assignment. His main competition for a bench role is Rule 5 Draft pick Gage Workman.
I know that the Morgan decision was upsetting for a lot of Cubs fans, but you can also view that move as a positive. It does show that the Cubs may have just found a hidden gem in Keller to add to the bullpen.
