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Brad Keller will be shut down for the year, announced manager Ned Yost today. Danny Duffy is expected to re-join the rotation this weekend and would replace Keller. Keller has pitched a career-high 165 1⁄3 innings this year. The most he had pitched in a professional season prior to this was 142 innings in 2015.
Ned said Brad Keller will be shut down the rest of the season. Ned said Keller is showing signs of arm fatigue and no benefit to keep pitching him.
— Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) August 28, 2019
The Royals had previously said that Keller would be on an undefined innings limit last week, then said he would not last 100 pitches in a game the rest of the year. Keller was lit up on Monday by the Oakland Athletics, giving up five runs in just 1 1/3 innings and 43 pitches before he was lifted.
The 24-year old right-hander has said he’ll take more time to rest this off-season to recover from the larger workload, admitting he started earlier than needed last year because he was antsy.
Keller finishes the season with a 4.19 ERA and 122 strikeouts. He currently leads the league in losses with 14 and walks with 70. He is 44th among 68 qualified starting pitchers in WAR, according to Fangraphs, with 2.2.