Altoona's Keller captures pitching honor

After battling inconsistency to begin the season, Mitch Keller strung together a pair of solid starts last week for Double-A Altoona.

The results not only gave the Pirates' top-ranked prospect something to build on, but provided him with some hardware, too.

Keller garnered Eastern League Pitcher of the Week honors after going 2-0 with a 1.98 ERA in two starts. Over 13 2/3 innings, he struck out 14 and allowed nine hits with three walks.

Against Richmond last Tuesday, Keller gave up one run over seven innings, striking out seven. On Sunday, MLB.com's No. 14 overall prospect yielded a pair of runs and fanned seven more against Portland in the Curve's 12-3 win.

• View the Player of the Week winners »

Keller (5-2) owns a 3.02 ERA and has struck out 44 batters, which leads the organization, over 47 2/3 innings this season.

The 22-year-old earned Pitcher of the Week honors twice last year, once as a member of Class A Advanced Bradenton in the Florida State League and again with Glendale in the Arizona Fall League.

Below is the complete list of Minor League Pitcher of the Week winners from May 14-20:

League	Player	Team	MLB	Stats
International	Shane Bieber	Columbus	CLE	1-0, 0.61 ERA, 2 G, 2 GS, 14 2/3 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 15 K
Pacific Coast	Dennis Santana	Oklahoma City	LAD	1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 11 K
Eastern	Mitch Keller	Altoona	PIT	2-0, 1.98 ERA, 2 G, 2 GS, 13 2/3 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 14 K
Southern	Taylor Widener	Jackson	ARI	2-0, 0.69 ERA, 2 G, 2 GS, 13 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 15 K
Texas	Cionel Pérez	Corpus Christi	HOU	2-0, 1.93 ERA, 2 G, 1 GS, 9 1/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 14 K
California	Ljay Newsome	Modesto	SEA	1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 8 2/3 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
Carolina	Edgar Arredondo	Down East	TEX	1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K
Florida State	Alex Faedo	Lakeland	DET	1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 HBP, 1 BB, 5 K
Midwest	Tyler Mondile	Dayton	CIN	1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 1 SHO, 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
South Atlantic	Bruce Zimmermann	Rome	ATL	1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K