How Brad Keller made mid-career velocity jump that’s turning heads in Cubs camp
Keller is in spring training with the Cubs as a non-roster invitee after signing a minor-league deal over the offseason.
MESA, Ariz. — The Cubs were the first team to contact right-hander Brad Keller when free agency opened this winter, a gesture he appreciated. And when it became clear they would be able to sign him to a minor-league deal with a spring-training invite, they jumped.
“There were some changes we started to see at the end of last year that gave us some pretty good confidence that we were going to see a little bit of a velo trend,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said in a conversation with the Sun-Times. “Maybe not to 98.”
And yet, that’s about what Keller has thrown this spring. In the Cubs’ Cactus League opener, he touched 97.9 mph, and his fastball averaged 96.3 — about three mph harder than the last two seasons. That caught the attention of his new teammates, and even the members of the coaching staff who already had some idea of his progress.
