Dallas Keuchel is glad he came.
The 33-year-old former Cy Young and World Series winner in the second year of his three-year deal with the White Sox is enjoying pitching for a winner and being part of a pitching staff he says is the best he has been a part of.
“As a whole from five starters and seven or eight relievers that we have, is the best that I’ve ever seen,” Keuchel said.
The 2018 Astros starting rotation of Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Keuchel, Lance McCullers and Charlie Morton comprised “the best five starters I’ve ever seen on a baseball field together,” Keuchel said. “Here it’s just the complete package.”
Lance Lynn, Carlos Rodon, Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease and Keuchel have done the bulk of the work that has the Sox ranked second in the majors in ERA at 2.96. Keuchel’s seven scoreless innings Tuesday against the 43-24 Rays Tuesday night lowered his to 3.78, very close to the 3.74 mark he posted in 2018. Although the Sox bullpen hasn’t peaked, Keuchel sees a higher ceiling with the talent of Liam Hendriks, Michael Kopech [currently on injured list], Garrett Crochet and Aaron Bummer.
“It’s fun. This is what I signed up for,” Keuchel said.
“When you have two guys [Rodon and Lynn] vying for the Cy Young this early, you know you are on a pretty good track, and getting Hendriks was a big time plus.
“With fans in the stands, its’ a different aspect as well. It gets the blood pumping more. I’m definitely hoping we make a deep October run this year because this place is rowdy.”
Another lively crowd of 19,259 at Guaranteed Rate Field saw the Sox score two in the fourth against left-hander Shane McClanahan and one in the fifth on Adam Engel’s third homer in seven games.
The pair in the fourth came when Andrew Vaughn, who would have been a dead duck at home with a good throw from left fielder Randy Arozarena, scored when it bounced through catcher Francisco Mejia, allowing Leury Garcia, who was on second to continue motoring home for a 2-0 lead.
Keuchel, who has allowed three earned runs over his last three starts, allowed four hits and walked one. He struck out five.
While the other starters feature mid-to-upper 90 mph velocity, Keuchel gives a different look, the soft tosser throwing sinkers in the 87-89 mph range, cutters around 85 mph, and changeups at 80. He divides those three evenly, with an occasional slider mixed in at 77 mph, per Brooks Baseball.
This makes him something of a dying breed of pitcher succeeding with changing speeds, moving the ball around and getting ground balls without throwing the ball as hard as he can. MLB’s crackdown on foreign substances announced Tuesday might encourage pitchers to get back to sinking the ball, Keuchel said.
“Everything goes in spurts and right now it’s the four-seam [fastball],” Keuchel said.
“You’ll see about a quarter, maybe 35 or 40 percent go back to sinking the ball and then throwing some sliders.”
MLB intensified its enforcement of rules that prohibit applying foreign substances to baseballs Tuesday, measures that won’t affect him, Keuchel said.
“It was kind of a gentleman’s rule for so long but you make it so obvious now. It’s kind of hard not to crack down,” Keuchel said. “This is coming from a guy who doesn’t use anything. I literally will rub up the ball with my sweat. So at places I don’t sweat, I have trouble commanding the baseball. You can’t be out there toying with your glove or tossing the ball back and forth like some of these guys.”
