Brad Keller and Drew Pomeranz Are Rejuvenated Relievers in Chicago

Brad Keller and Drew Pomeranz have been bullpen stalwarts for the Chicago Cubs this season. The former made a club-high 68 appearances during the regular season and pitched to a 2.07 ERA and a 2.94 FIP over 69 2/3 innings, while the latter toed the rubber 57 times and put up a 2.17 ERA and a 3.36 FIP over 49 2/3 innings. Working primarily in setup roles, the right-left duo combined for six wins, four saves, and 39 holds. Not bad for a pair of hurlers who were essentially reclamation projects when they reported to spring training.

Now with his fourth team in the past three seasons, Keller was 9-22 with a 5.05 ERA from 2022 to 2024. Moreover, one year ago, he lost all four decisions while logging a 5.44 ERA. As for Pomeranz’s recent numbers… well, there weren’t any. Hampered by multiple arm injuries, the southpaw hadn’t taken the mound in a big league game since August 2021. At age 36, he had quite possibly reached the end of the road.

Keller’s path has included injury-related speed bumps as well. Most notable was the righty being diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, which required him to go under the knife after the 2023 season.

“It’s being healthy, first and foremost,” Keller said of his return to form. “I battled TOS for a couple years, and it really came to a head two years ago. Ultimately, I had surgery, and I feel better now than I have my entire career. I’m recovering better than I ever had. That along with some tweaks I made mechanically have helped me max my velo. Overall, I’m just a better pitcher. Stuff-wise, sequencing-wise, using my pitches well. There was basically a revamp of everything.”

Pomeranz has done some revamping of his own over the years, and that includes ditching a few pitches. He’s always had a plus four-seamer and a quality curveball. Deep into a career that began when he was drafted fifth overall by Cleveland in 2010, that is all he currently throws.

“Nowadays, my game is pretty simple,” Pomeranz told me toward the tail end of the regular season. “This is my 15th year of pro ball, and I’ve tried a lot of things. Some have worked, and some haven’t worked. I’ve tried to throw a changeup. I’ve tried to throw a cutter. I’ve tried to throw a sinker. I’m at the point now where I know what my best pitches are, instead of constantly looking for new stuff.

“When I first came up, they wanted everyone to have a fastball, a breaking ball, a changeup, whatever,” Pomeranz added. “Now they identify you as, ‘This guy’s not a changeup guy,’ so they’ll have you throw something else. Are you a supinator or a pronator? They do a better job of not forcing you to throw pitches that you’re not naturally able to throw very well. If I’d have done that earlier, I wouldn’t have forcibly thrown a changeup, and I wouldn’t have given up all the homers I did on pitches that weren’t my best pitch.”

The now-healthy Keller is approaching things differently.

“I’m incorporating more sinkers this year,” the 30-year-old right-hander explained. “I’m also incorporating more changeups. It’s kind of a split-change, if you will. I also have the sweeper, which I didn’t have a few years ago. Outside of that, I still have the hard slider I’ve had my whole career, as well as the fastball.”

The velocity bump Keller mentioned is real. His four-seamer averaged a crisp 97.2 mph this year, whereas he had previously been in the 93-94 range. And while he is now working exclusively out of the bullpen — he was mostly a starter prior to last year — Keller doesn’t attribute the added oomph solely to shorter stints.

“When I was in spring training throwing three innings, I was still sitting 97-98,” he said. “In my mind, I’m not exerting a whole lot more effort than I would if I were to go multiple innings. Cleaner mechanics, a cleaner arm path — being healthy obviously helps — has allowed me to add a little more velo.”

At 92.7 mph, Pomeranz’s four-seamer isn’t far below its peak of 94.6 mph from 2020. Moreover, it’s close to his career average. As for the high-80s sinker he scrapped after the 2019 season — he became strictly fastball/curveball in 2020 — it wasn’t intended to be a variation of his heater. For all intents and purposes, Pomeranz used it as his cambio.

“The changeup is the big thing I always struggled with,” the lefty told me. “I tried so many grips over the years. I eventually went to a two-seam fastball that I threw slower. I called it a BP fastball. That was probably the most success I had with a changeup.”

The most success Keller has had as a big league pitcher? In his opinion, it’s not necessarily this season’s rebound performance that helped his team reach the postseason. His ERA and FIP were career bests, as was his 27.2% strikeout rate, but as he pointed out, it is hard to compare apples and oranges.

“I feel that I threw pretty well a few times in my first three years in the big leagues,” said Keller, who had a 3.08 ERA over 140 1/3 innings in his 2018 rookie season, and a 2.47 ERA over 54 2/3 innings in the truncated 2020 campaign. “That was in a different role though, so it’s hard to say. But I feel good where I’m at. I’m happy to help out the team.”

Keller having told me that he held his increased velocity over multiple innings during spring training prompted another question. Could he see himself moving back into a starter role one day and helping out a team in that manner?

“I mean, I’d started my whole life, and I love starting,” said the pending free agent. “But again, I like where I’m at now — I like the role — so we’ll see. Maybe we won’t see. Maybe we’ll try it out. I’m not sure.”

Pomeranz isn’t about to move out of the bullpen — not at his age and with a two-pitch repertoire — but he’s certainly experienced his fair share of changes. Starting, relieving, tinkering with his arsenal, bouncing between organizations, missing so much time with various maladies — he’s ridden a veritable rollercoaster since I first interviewed him for Baseball Prospectus prior to his reaching the majors.

“I’ve had to morph a lot,” Pomeranz said of his journey. “I feel like I’ve died and come back to life five different times in the baseball world. Being in the bullpen after starting out as a starter… I mean, I know what I’m doing by now. The first five years of my career, I had no idea what I was doing. I was out there just throwing pitches. You come up thinking you know everything, and maybe you have a little bit of success, but looking back, it’s no, I had no idea of what I was doing.”

However many years of baseball he might have left — his contract is also up after the season — Pomeranz does know one thing for certain: He won’t pitch forever.

“I don’t know about that,” a smiling Pomeranz said to my suggestion that he just might just do so. “I guess we’ll see. Right now I’m just thinking about this year.”

With the Cubs facing elimination — they’re down 2-0 to the Brewers in the best-of-five NLDS that resumes this evening — this year might soon be over for both Pomeranz and Keller. Where the rejuvenated hurlers pitch next year is still to be determined.