‘Phillies Extra’ Q&A: Brad Keller on committing to being a reliever, advice for Andrew Painter, and more

Brad Keller sat at a gate in the Philadelphia International Airport, awaiting a flight home after signing with the Phillies, when his phone rang with an invitation to join the most talented American baseball roster ever assembled.

And in that moment, on a cold day in December, it must have dawned on Keller how much his life had changed.

A year ago, Keller was in spring training with the Cubs, trying to make the team as a nonroster invitee on a minor-league contract. But after a dominant 2025 season (2.07 ERA in 68 appearances), he’s one of the best setup relievers in the sport, earning a two-year, $22 million contract from the Phillies and a spot in Team USA’s bullpen for the upcoming World Baseball Classic.

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Keller sat down last week with Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast, for a wide-ranging conversation about his first few weeks in Phillies camp, wearing the stars and stripes, why he believes he’s more than a one-year bullpen wonder, and more.

Here are a few excerpts. Watch the full interview below and subscribe to the Phillies Extra podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

A: I think that’s exactly it, just continuing to build on it. I have a good set of cues that I was using all year last year, kind of even when I went through some ruts and things like that, that kind of got me out of it pretty quickly. So, just trust the work that I put in, trust the process. I know the relieving lifestyle. It’s not always going to be perfect, but ultimately we’re just trying to do our job out there. And just try to put up a zero. It might be [with] some runners on, might have to battle through some traffic, but ultimately our job is to put a zero up and pass it on to the next guy. So, just building on what I did last year and continue to get better.

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Going into spring this year, we’re still working on some things. Last year, my sweeper at times was a little not as consistent as [I was] hoping it to be. So this year it has kind of been my point of emphasis, going through spring, just kind of nailing that in, really honing in, when I want it for a strike, when I want it for a ball, things like that. There’s always things to work on. And I’m not just trying to sit there and just be like, ‘OK, last year’s last year.’ There is still even things last year that I would like to get better at going into this year. And so there’s always work to be had.

A: … I had a couple of teams reach out this year that were like, ‘Hey, we think that there’s a chance that you could still do it, and we believe that you could still be a starter.’ And I told them, ‘Yeah, I’m down to start. That’s great.’ But I loved the bullpen last year. There was nothing like the adrenaline rush that you would get going into a game, big moment, big situation, like getting out of it, pitching in the playoffs, coming into big games like that. That gives me chills thinking about it, because it was just such a special experience.

And so part of me was like, ‘I don’t want to give that up.’ And I know even when we were talking about the starter route, it was like, ‘There was always the fallback plan, and if it doesn’t work out, we’ll still just put you in the bullpen.’ But I had success with it last year. I had success with it in the past, beginning [of] my career, so maybe we should just dive full in because at the beginning of the last year, even when I was in the bullpen, I was still the two-inning guy, still the long guy. So it was still always like am I going to start?

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… So finally, when I felt like I put all those to the side and just commit to being in the bullpen, commit to being a reliever, that’s when I feel like my season kind of changed. Going into free agency I was like, let’s just commit to this. I really enjoyed it. It’s not like something that I was on the fence about. Once I was all in, I was like, this is a lot of fun. And I had a good group of guys last year that really kind of showed me the ropes, especially transitioning into just a completely different role, being able to be ready every single day vs. one every five days or so. So that helped out a ton.

A: I think the most important thing is just don’t try to make it more than what it is. It’s still the same game. You’ve still got to throw the ball 60 feet, 6 inches. … The lights are brighter. Obviously you’re facing guys that you’ve seen on TV, or you’ve heard the name a million times, but it’s the same game. You just got to put on that competitive hat and just go to work. And it’s obviously intimidating when you’re 22 and you’re facing a bunch of guys.

But for me, I was just trying to be a sponge my rookie year. Just try to soak in as much information as I could. Good, bad, obviously, you got to filter out that stuff, but you just try to enjoy every moment. It’s such a short time in our lives. A career span is so short in the grand scheme of things. So just try to make the most of it. Try to make all the memories. Try to soak in all the information.

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We have a lot of veteran guys on our team, hitters, pitchers, especially in our starting staff. He’s got a lot of guys around him that he can lean on, which is really cool — [Aaron Nola], [Zack] Wheeler and [Jesús] Luzardo, and those guys. That’s just awesome to learn from and follow suit with those guys. But I think just enjoy it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And like I said, it goes by fast. This is Year 9 for me, and I feel like I remember myself as a rookie walking into the clubhouse for the first time. So it’s fun, but … it’s still the same game.

Watch the entire interview for Keller’s thoughts on the Phillies bullpen, playing for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, and meeting new teammate Kyle Schwarber at the College Football Playoff National Championship game in Miami.