The Best Brave to Wear #60

See also: Index of Best Braves by Uniform Number

As is the case for many of the high uniform numbers, candidates for “Best Brave” are fairly slight. Number 60 is no exception, with the best Brave to wear it only being employed by the club for half a season, 2019 gun-for-hire Dallas Keuchel.

Keuchel was selected in the 7th round of the 2009 draft by the Houston Astros after a successful career as a starter for the University of Arkansas, fresh off a College World Series run. Keuchel fell to the 7th round due to his lack of velocity; even in college Keuchel was a finesse lefty who relied on inducing groundballs to be successful — not a profile that excited major league scouts or analytics departments, even in the late 2000s.

Keuchel never featured higher than 21 on Baseball America’s annual list of Astros prospects. Unlike many college pitchers, Keuchel did not add velocity as a pro. Instead, he got trickier, adding more deception to his wind-up and delivery and refining his control to the point that he was averaging less than 1.5 walks per nine innings as he climbed the Houston organizational ladder. Keuchel made his major league debut on June 17, 2012, allowing 1 run in a 5 inning start against the Texas Rangers. Keuchel would ride the shuttle from Houston to Oklahoma City the rest of the season, but by May 2013 he would establish himself in the Astros rotation.

Keuchel made a breakthrough in 2014 when he essentially abandoned his curveball and dialed back the usage of his four-seam fastball in favor of a sinker/slider/change-up mix that caused his groundball rate to skyrocket up to 63.5%. The following season Keuchel would kill worms all the way to the American League Cy Young Award, as well as the first of his two All-Star appearances.

After leading the AL in innings pitched in 2015, Keuchel would be hampered by shoulder issues in 2016 and neck problems in 2017, though he would recover enough to start five games in the 2017 playoffs for Houston, including two games in the 2017 World Series. Keuchel’s final season with Houston saw him return to a full season’s worth of starts, once more leading baseball in ground outs.

Signing With Atlanta

A free agent for the first time after the 2018 season, Houston gave Keuchel a qualifying offer, which Keuchel refused. This turned out to be a mistake for the left-hander, as no team was willing to step up and offer the lucrative multi-year deal that Keuchel was looking for. By the time the 2019 regular season started, Keuchel was still looking for a home.

By May, the Atlanta Braves’ pitching plans were largely up in smoke. While pitchers Mike Soroka and Julio Teheran were performing well, anticipated starters Kevin Gausman, Sean Newcomb, and Mike Foltynewicz were largely disasters, endangering a season in which the Braves were anticipating to contend. On June 7, a day after the deadline in which signing a free agent with a qualifying offer would no longer cost the signing team a draft pick, the Braves swooped in and brought Keuchel into the fold with a deal that paid him $13 million for the rest of the season.

After two rehab starts, Keuchel made his Braves debut on June 21, throwing 5 innings against Washington. Over the course of the rest of the regular season, Keuchel would do pretty much what was asked of him: take the ball every fifth day and give a quality effort. Keuchel would go 8-8 with a 3.75 ERA in 19 starts with Atlanta, helping to solidify the rotation along with an improving Max Fried and a resurgent Mike Foltynewicz.

Manager Brian Snitker would lean heavily on Keuchel’s post-season experience, starting him in Games 1 and 4 of the Division Series against the Cardinals. Keuchel would not distinguish himself in either start, and the Braves essentially made no attempt to re-sign Keuchel after the season. Instead, Keuchel would finally get that multi-year offer from the Chicago White Sox.

Who Is the Best Ever To Wear #60?

While a number of baseball luminaries would wear #60 when they first arrived in the majors, such as Dick Allen, Matt Williams, Adam Wainwright, Hanley Ramirez, and J.T. Realmuto, the best ever to wear #60 regularly is in fact Dallas Keuchel. This would make Keuchel an unlikely addition to the short list of Braves that are the best ever for their uniform number in all of baseball, alongside Hall-of-Famers Greg Maddux (#31), Phil Niekro (#35), Hank Aaron (#44), and Tom Glavine (#47).

One of the reasons Keuchel has been so successful as a groundball pitcher has been his own defense. He’s been rewarded with the Gold Glove award 4 times in his career. This video shows plenty of sinkers and sliders, but also highlights his defense.