Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Pittsburgh Pirates face critical tests this week against top-ranked teams in the MLB Power Rankings.
- Their rotation instability and a stacked injury list threaten to derail their overachieving season.
- The front office's failure to capitalize on Mitch Keller's prime years now looms as a pivotal misstep.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have overachieved in 2026, but that doesn't mean they're on pace for a playoff spot. The Pirates rotation has a sore spot, their lineup is lacking the DH they thought they acquired, and the injury list is stacked. Konnor Griffin joined the latter late last week.
Pittsburgh faced some real tests on their last road trip. They took two of three from the Houston Astros, but were swept by the Atlanta Braves. The Braves rank first in our MLB Power Rankings for a reason. Unfortunately, the Pirates head home and will host the No. 2 team in our power rankings — and the likely World Series favorites — the Los Angeles Dodgers. Good luck with that.
The Pirates are a great story, but not everyone is holding up their end of the bargain.
Pirates should've traded Mitch Keller when they had the chance
Mitch Keller was supposed to slide in as the Pirates No. 2 starting pitcher behind Paul Skenes this season. He has been anything but, as Keller isn't the stable veteran the Pirates thought they had stashed away as a frontline starter. But if Pittsburgh has learned anything from the 30-year-old since his promotion, it's that Keller is unpredictable. This is why they should've traded Keller when they had the chance, which would've ideally been at the trade deadline last season or this past winter.
Keller was an available starting pitcher with years of control left on his contract. He was also quite successful in 2025. It's as if Ben Cherington didn't realize how rare those far. Cherington also clearly didn't know his own player, as Keller has a tendency to go off the rails the minute he appears most stable.
Since May 13 against the Colorado Rockies, Keller has given up 24 runs in just six starts. This fact is made worse once you realize Keller pitched well against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 24, giving up just one runs on four hits in a 4-1 victory.
It doesn't help that Mitch Keller is making excuses
When asked about his struggles after another loss to the Atlanta Braves, Keller didn't exactly inspire confidence.
“I felt all right,” Keller said. “I just wasn’t sharp.”
Keller's ERA is 4.81, and if it weren't for an outlier performance against the Blue Jays, he'd be even worse. Manager Don Kelly seems to realize how bad its gotten, and he is lucky to manage a team with a deep pitching staff.
Opponent | Innings | Earned Runs |
|---|---|---|
Braves | 4.2 | 6 |
Twins | 4.0 | 7 |
Blue Jays | 6.0 | 1 |
Cardinals | 5.2 | 4 |
Rockies | 5.2 | 6 |
“I thought he threw the ball well at times, but the one pitch to Dubón looked like a hanging [curveball],” Kelly said. “He left it up, and he got all of it. In that [fifth] inning, there was some solid contact he couldn’t get through. There in that last inning, it looked like they jumped him and [were] being aggressive early in the count. They got some barrels.”
They've gotten some barrels in the last month, Don. Keller used to be a top pitching prospect in his own right. He struggled mightily to find his footing, but he's never won that bout with inconsistency. The right-hander has bad months and stretches where he looks like an NL Cy Young candidate.
The issue is he cannot be relied upon when the Pirates need him most. Cherington should've known that a full year ago, when the Pirates could've receive a king's ransom in return for him.
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