Underrated Cubs' late-inning weapon could play a huge role in October

The Chicago Cubs' bullpen hasn't had a hierarchy this clear in quite a while.

Daniel Palencia, flamethrower extraordinaire, has settled into the closer's job quite nicely, even amidst a string of somewhat shaky outings.

Caleb Thielbar, Drew Pomeranz, and Taylor Rogers have united to form a brilliant triumvirate of southpaws, all capable of pitching anywhere in the middle innings whenever a gauntlet of left-handed batters steps to the plate.

Andrew Kittredge has been hit or miss in his time with the team since being acquired at the trade deadline -- following blow-up outings with immaculate innings -- but he's long been capable of holding down the seventh or eighth inning.

With a rotation of former starters subbing in to fill the long-relief spots, that leaves just one player left in Craig Counsell's bullpen: set-up man Brad Keller. Perhaps the most unheralded member of the 'pen, The Athletic's Jim Bowden highlighted Keller as the Cubs' most "indispensable 'under the radar' player" ahead of the final month of the season.

Brad Keller deserves lofty praise for brilliant season in Cubs' bullpen

As Bowden points out, Keller was unable to find a major league contract in free agency last offseason, and thus had to settle for a minor league deal with the Cubs.

Talk about good return on investment. Keller won a job in the Opening Day bullpen after a strong spring training performance, and he's been nothing short of brilliant since. This has been by far the best campaign of the 30-year-old's career, as he's working a 2.37 ERA, 2.98 FIP, and 25.3 percent strikeout rate in 57.0 innings (54 appearances).

He did have a blip on the radar around the All-Star break, allowing a 6.75 ERA and all three of his home runs on the season in July.

Prior to that stretch, though, Keller was Counsell's surefire set-up man, posting a 1.91 ERA and 2.45 FIP through the season's first three months. He allowed just one earned run between April 25 and July 4.

And now, in August, the right-hander has returned to that form, allowing no runs and just six baserunners (two singles, four walks) in ten innings while striking out 13.

"He ranks in the 95th percentile in average exit velocity, hard-hit rate and ground-ball rate," Bowden said, explaining Keller's placement on the list. "The 30-year-old appears to have finally found his niche."

There's plenty that the Cubs need to address ahead of their first playoff run in a half-decade -- like a slowly recovering offensive operation -- but they should feel secure in the back-end of their bullpen with Keller (and Palencia) leading the charge.