Cedar Rapids' Keller brothers work toward achieving their big league dreams

CEDAR RAPIDS — They work out together during the offseason, text and call each other all the time during the season.

They are brothers, after all. Close ones.

But Jon and Mitch Keller have never had 'the talk.' The one where they tell each other how unbelievable it would be if they both made it to the major leagues someday.

'No, we haven't really ever talked about that,' Jon Keller said. 'We both know that's what we want to have happen. That's the goal. It would be awesome to be in the big leagues at the same time. Even if just one of us makes it, that would be incredible.'

'If he made it, and I didn't, I'd be totally fine with that,' Mitch Keller said. 'That would be awesome.'

Jon Keller is a right-handed relief pitcher in the Baltimore Orioles farm system, Mitch Keller a right-handed starting pitcher in the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system. They aren't even the first set of brothers from Cedar Rapids attempting the MLB daily double.

Ryan Sweeney played parts of nine seasons in the bigs, with Oakland, Boston and the Chicago Cubs. His brother, Kellen, was a second-round draft pick of the Toronto Blue Jays but never made it past high-Class A.

Cedar Rapids Washington grad A.J. Puk was a first-round pick in 2016 of the Athletics and has an invitation to big-league spring training. Cedar Rapids Prairie grad Scott Schebler began to make his mark in the majors in 2016, playing 82 games as an outfielder with the Cincinnati Reds.

For a Midwest city of 130,000, that's a lot of baseball talent that has been produced.

The Kellers graduated from Xavier High School. Jon, 24, was drafted by Seattle his senior year but didn't sign, ending up at Nebraska, then Division II Tampa, before Baltimore drafted him in the 22nd round in 2013.

Pittsburgh took Mitch, 20, in the second round a year later, inking a deal that included a $1 million signing bonus. That's why during a recent lunch with a reporter, the boys' cousin Adam McDermott (a basketball player at Northern Iowa) and their aunt, Julie Shebek of Cedar Rapids, Jon kiddingly said 'Mitch has got it,' when the bill came.

'I always know when he pitches because he's a starter,' Jon said. 'So (during his games), I'll always run into the clubhouse every three outs to check how he is doing. The offseason is fun because we get to be together, work out together and stuff. It has just been a blessing, really fun.'

'I know whenever I get done pitching, I'll go into the clubhouse and do my (after-start) work,' Mitch said. 'I can follow him on the app while I'm riding the bike or whatever. It's just fun and exciting. I don't really know what else to compare it to, or how anybody else feels about it. It's just a different experience we have as brothers doing this than anyone else.'

Jon began to make a name for himself in the Orioles system, even getting into some MLB spring training games, but suffered a setback 2016 season in which he had a difficult time throwing strikes and got demoted from Double-A back to high-A. His arm is plenty good enough to make it to The Show, and he feels he has put last season's struggles behind him.

'I struggled to throw strikes, and I just kept walking people,' he said. 'I got into my head bad. I kept telling myself 'OK, I've got to throw a strike here,' so I'd throw a fastball no matter what. When your fastball command is not good, you've got to be able to throw a slider, something else. I just kind of got into a snowball effect, only throwing fastballs, really.'

Mitch, meanwhile, had a breakthrough season in which he compiled a 2.35 earned run average in 24 starts, mostly at low-A West Virginia. He got promoted to high-A Bradenton at the end of the season and made one strong start in the Pirates' run to the Florida State League championship.

Baseball America listed him as Pittsburgh's No. 2 minor-league prospect.

'It was incredible,' Jon marveled about Mitch's season.

'I haven't really even stepped back to think about the year or anything, Mitch said. 'It's kind of crazy to think about. It was a lot of fun, breaking spring training with a full-season team. It's disappointing not to be with a full-season team right away. It really sucks going to extended spring training. So that was a huge bonus. Then getting moved up at the end to play with Bradenton and playing for a championship, that was probably the most fun I've had playing baseball.'

The Kellers will spend the rest of the winter at home with mom and dad, Al and Joni, then head to Florida for spring training the middle of February. Jon hopes to be at Double-A Bowie, Mitch suspects he'll begin back at Bradenton.

That's when work will begin again in their pursuit of their respective (and collective) big league dreams.

'You miss your family, but I wouldn't trade this experience for anything, though,' Jon said. 'I have a fun time with it. It just comes down to if you enjoy your team and your teammates, you will have fun.'

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com