Hall of Fame voting expert: Barry Larkin makes it this year; no one else does

For 30 years a man named Bill Deane has been predicting the Hall of Fame vote. He has a nearly 80% success rate in getting the votes right, so that’s pretty good. His prediction this year: Barry Larkin is the only inductee.

Hard to argue with that. Larkin was close last year and a jump from the 62.1% he received to the 75% he needs is quite doable in an otherwise undistinguished field. None of the new guys are likely to get a ton of support and none of the non-Larkin holdovers are likely to gain nearly enough to make it.

As I noted yesterday, there are several people on the ballot who should go in. But given that won’t happen, it’ll be nice to see the very-deserving Barry Larkin make it.

MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo reports that the Pirates will promote top pitching prospect Mitch Keller in advance of their doubleheader against the Reds on Monday. Confirmation of the move is still pending an official announcement, but Keller will reportedly face off against Sonny Gray in Game 2.

Keller, 23, is currently listed as the Pirates’ no. 1 prospect and the no. 16 overall prospect in the league, per MLB.com. He was selected in the second round of the 2014 amateur draft and has spent the last six years refining his technique in Pittsburgh’s farm system, where he recently made the jump to Triple-A Indianapolis in 2018. So far this season, he’s 5-0 in nine starts with a 3.45 ERA, 3.8 BB/9, and 10.7 SO/9 through 47 innings.

It’s not clear how long of a leash the Pirates will give Keller, though given the current state of their rotation — down to four serviceable starters with Jameson Taillon on the 60-day injured list (right elbow flexor strain), Trevor Williams on the 10-day IL (right side strain), and a handful of replacements yet to impress — they may be inclined to keep him on a little longer than his spot start requires.