Houston Astros: Three reasons why Dallas Keuchel should be brought back

Reason #1: Chewing up all of the fat

Let’s get to the reality here — Keuchel is an innings-eater.  Despite the injuries that he’s sustained over the past few seasons causing him to miss time, his productivity on the mound has been quite amazing to say the least.  I’d suggest that one don’t necessarily look at his ERA to cast him off but look at his ability to get out a jam and keep the train rolling.

Since the 2014 season, Keuchel has had three out of five seasons where his pitched at least 200 innings or more which is the benchmark for a starter that has the durability that goes the distance.

Here’s how his innings of work panned out since then:

2014: 200.0

2015: 232.0

2016: 168.0

2017: 145.2

2018: 204.2

Keuchel’s 204.2 innings pitched mark for 2018 is good for 3rd among AL pitchers behind fellow teammate Justin Verlander (214.0) and Corey Kluber (215.0).

In two of those seasons in that series, he was nominated to the AL All-Star team (2015 and 2017), all while doing to most of his damage with a devastating sinker that sits in the mid-80s.  Through the period of success that he’s had, there’s no need for him to take down his batters with the speed of the pitch but using just average velocity to take down each batter that he’s faced.

Keuchel has pitched 12 complete games in his career and I feel that I’ve witnessed all of them over my time following his progress.  It’s not easy to complete such a feat but the man has been able to do it with ease while masterfully working through the lineup and keeping his pitch count as low as possible.

See what I mean?  A team needs a guy that can churn up gorgeous numbers like that.  What else can he do?  Let’s take a look even further.