Threw together some plots with Statcast data this morning, visualizing Keller's Opening Day performance. From what I have researched, it was about as Brad Keller game as there could possibly be.
All 92 pitches, colored by pitch type:
All 92 pitches, colored by pitch speed:
Overall, the White Sox played right into his hand- chasing after his low-stuff and getting fooled by his slider. A slider that he is consistent in his approach with, low and out of the zone:
Swinging strike rate was about what he averaged at last year, 8 swinging strikes out of 92 pitches. ~8.7% swinging strike rate compared to 9.0% flat for the year last year. 5 of these swinging strikes came against lefties and were chased out of the zone:
Groundball rate was right there with his average last year as well, 10 of 18 batted balls against were groundballs, ~55.5% groundball rate compared to 54.4% for 2018. I usually don't fall in love with pitchers who rely on inducing-contact, but the thing that impressed me the most from Opening Day was Keller's ability to jam the White Sox inside with his heat, in addition to working LHBs away - yet in the strike zone - with his sinker/two-seamer (FT):
Still working out how to present this one visually that isn't a cluster****, but it shows some patterns to watch for that could be noteworthy going forward. The Sox had some good pitches to hit when Keller was behind in the count and not able to nibble on the edges and had to come into the zone with his fastball. When Keller was ahead, 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, he threw one pitch in the zone the entire game:
