January 24, 2021
Mitch Keller has only thrown 69-and-a-third big-league innings, and he’s already had a remarkable career. The baseball gods are a big reason why. In his 2019 rookie season, the now-24-year-old Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander had a 7.13 ERA to go with a 3.19 FIP, and this past season he had a 2.91 ERA to go with a 6.75 FIP.
Hello, BABIP.
In an almost-inexplicable quirk of fate, Keller followed up a .475 BABIP the highest one-season mark in MLB history with a .104 BABIP in 2020. No pitcher who threw 20-or-more innings in last year’s pandemic-truncated campaign had a smaller percentage of balls put in play against him fall safely to the turf. This happened with an average exit velocity of 88.5 mph, which was higher than the 87.6 he’d allowed in 2019.
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TORONTO When you scan the crowd of a baseball game at Rogers Centre, you see jersey numbers that define eras of Blue Jays baseball.
There are plenty of No. 19 and No. 20 jerseys for José Bautista and Josh Donaldson, with the postseason runs of 2015 and ‘16 still fresh, while Roy Halladay’s No. 32 and Roberto Alomar’s No. 12 the only two numbers retired by the organization remain a staple.
As the next generation of Blue Jays stars begin to lay claim to their own numbers and climb the ranks of franchise greats before them, here is a look back through club history at the best player to wear each:
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