So let's just cover a few basics. Drafted and signed by the Astros in the 2009 MLB draft, Keuchel made his MLB debut just shy of three years after first signing a professional contract. He did not pitch poorly; 5 innings, 4 bases on balls, 4 hits, 2 strikeouts and 1 earned run.
Keuchel's mark in the earned run average department kind of fall in line with the Astros loss total during the 2012 and 2013 seasons(5.27. 5.15). They also help illustrate how the Astros went from a 55-win club in 2013 to an 86-win team in 2015 (2.93, 2.48).
Dallas Keuchel has a hell-of-a-story to tell regarding his 2015 season. The team itself was expected to be better than 70 wins; yet, not quite over the .500 mark. En route to a 20-8 record and a 2.48 ERA, Keuchel went 15-0 at home, started in the 2015 American League All-Star Game, and defeated the New York Yankees (on the road) in a win-or-go-home setting that was the American League Wild Card Game.
Keuchel is the embodiment of the Houston Astros administrated by General Manager Jeff Luhnow. In the image below, observe how many pitches are in the outer third of the strike zone. Not only are they outside, but they are also heavily concentrated in the bottom portion of the zone. This helps to ensure both soft contact and downward force on the baseball. The result is a higher ground ball rate.
Another graphic that I would like to direct attention to is with respect to his pitch usage. The main differences here are an increase in his sinker usage. In the first couple seasons, Keuchel used his sinker around 40% of the time. In the past two seasons, however, he is employing that pitch more and more. There is a slight dip in the mid-to-late portion of 2015. Overall, Keuchel uses his sinker more than half the time. His other pitches have essentially stayed the same in regards to usage. But it is very interesting that Keuchel is, for the most part, a two-pitch kind of guy. It works!
Most peripheral statistics suggest that Keuchel is not a fluke. The graphics selected show that he has developed an idea of where to attack batters in the strike zone as well as what pitches work well for him. In four seasons of data, only the 2013 season has an outlier in terms of BABIP. In order from 2012-present, Keuchel has posted: .277, .340, .295 and .269 marks in this statistic.
People may infer that Keuchel will not replicate his 2015 season in 2016. That is okay by me. Keuchel is not a fluke. He is a Cy Young Winner and a true major league pitcher.
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