After ending the month of April 20-9, the Pirates were in first place in the National League Central and one of the hottest teams in all of baseball. Currently 41-49 at the All-Star break, the Pirates have gone 21-40 since that hot start and find themselves 8.5 games behind the Cincinnati Reds for first. With the offense sputtering and the pitching staff failing to give the Pirates consistent quality innings, they will need to find that magic they started the season with.
Here are the Pirates that are trending up and down in 2023.
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Mitch Keller, pitcher: In his fifth season in the MLB, Keller has had a breakout year in 2023 including his first All-Star selection.
Currently 9-4 with a 3.31 ERA, Keller has 129 strikeouts at the break and is only 9 behind his career-high he set last year he has been able to stay healthy and finally looks like the frontline pitcher they had hoped he would become.
On May 8, Keller had the best game of his young career pitching a four-hit complete game shutout while striking out eight batters against the Colorado Rockies. Of his 19 starts this season, 12 of them have been quality starts which is when the starting pitcher goes at least six innings and allows three runs or fewer.