Brad Michael Keller (born July 27, 1995) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the Kansas City Royals of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2018.

Amateur career

Keller attended

Flowery Branch High School Flowery Branch High School is a four-year public high school located in Flowery Branch, Georgia, United States, operated by Hall County Schools. In 2007, Flowery Branch was voted Georgia's High School of Excellence. It is one of seven high school ...

Flowery Branch, Georgia Flowery Branch is a city in Hall County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 9,391. It is part of the Gainesville, Georgia metropolitan area, and lies on the shores of Lake Lanier. History Flowery Branch wa ...

, playing for their baseball team, the Falcons. He was drafted by the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...

in the eighth round of the

2013 MLB draft The 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2013. The first two rounds were broadcast from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. Each team received one selection per round, going in ...

. He had committed to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

Presbyterian College Presbyterian College (PC) is a private Presbyterian liberal arts college in Clinton, South Carolina. History Presbyterian College was founded in 1880 by the William Plumer Jacobs. He had served as the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Cl ...

, but chose to sign with the Diamondbacks rather than attend college.

Professional career

Arizona Diamondbacks

Keller made his professional debut that year with the

Arizona League Diamondbacks The Arizona Complex League Diamondbacks are a professional baseball team competing as a Rookie-level affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Salt River Fields ...

and was later promoted to the

Missoula Osprey The Missoula PaddleHeads are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. They are located in Missoula, Montana, and play their home games at Ogren Par ...

. In 15 games (13 starts), he posted a 7–3 record and 2.44

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

. In 2014, he pitched for the Arizona League Diamondbacks, Missoula and

Hillsboro Hops The Hillsboro Hops are a Minor League Baseball team in the northwest United States, located in Hillsboro, Oregon, a city in the Portland metropolitan area. The Hops are members of the Northwest League as an affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. ...

, going 6–4 with a 4.31 ERA over 15 games (12 starts). Keller pitched for the

Kane County Cougars The Kane County Cougars are an independent professional baseball team located in Geneva, Illinois and are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball (MLB). They play thei ...

in 2015, going 8–9 with a 2.60 ERA over 26 games (25 starts), the

Visalia Rawhide The Visalia Rawhide are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. They are located in Visalia, California, and have played their home games at Valley Strong Ballpark since thei ...

in 2016 where he went 9–7 with a 4.47 ERA in 24 starts, and 2017 with the

Jackson Generals The Jackson Generals were a professional baseball team located in Jackson, Tennessee. From 1998 to 2020, they were a part of Minor League Baseball's Southern League (SL) as the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs (1998–2006), Seattle Mari ...

, where he posted a 10–9 record and 4.68 ERA in 26 starts.

Kansas City Royals

On December 14, 2017, Keller was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the Rule 5 draft and immediately traded to the Kansas City Royals for cash considerations. Keller made the

25-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

for the Royals in 2018 and had his MLB debut on Opening Day, March 29, pitching an inning of scoreless relief against the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

; he

struck out In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denote ...

the first batter he faced, Adam Engel. He split time between the bullpen and the rotation, leading the team in ERA (3.08) and tied for first on the team in wins (9). He struck out 96 batters in innings. On April 19, 2019, Keller received a five-game suspension by Major League Baseball, which concluded he intentionally threw a pitch that hit Tim Anderson of the

. On July 7, 2020, it was announced that Keller had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. Ten days later, he was cleared to return to the Royals’ Summer Camp after producing two negative tests at least 24 hours apart. On September 13, 2020, Keller pitched the first complete game shutout of his career against the Pittsburgh Pirates, allowing five hits (only one for extra bases) and one

walk Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an ' inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults ...

striking out ''Striking Out'' is an Irish television legal drama series, broadcast on RTÉ, that first aired on 1 January 2017. Produced by Bl!nder F!lms for RTÉ Television, ''Striking Out'' stars Amy Huberman as Dublin-based solicitor Tara Rafferty, who is ...

two batters. With the 2020 Kansas City Royals, Keller appeared in nine games, compiling a 5–3 record with 2.47 ERA and 35 strikeouts in innings pitched. In 2021, he started 26 games and posted an 8–12 record, a 5.39 ERA and 120 strikeouts in innings.

References

External links