Four years ago, Oakland A’s pitching prospect Mason Miller couldn’t have imagined a scenario in which he would be a highly regarded prospect in the Arizona Fall League. A sophomore at Waynesburg (Penn.) University, a Division III program, Miller was struggling through a 2018 season in which he would post a 7.16 ERA in 32 2/3 innings. He was also losing weight rapidly, and he didn’t know why.
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“I think it ended up being close to 30 pounds throughout the year,” he said in a recent phone interview. “It wasn’t any specific month or anything where it started really happening faster, just kind of like a slow, physical decline.”
Despite the physical issues, Miller continued to compete and prepare for what he figured was his future career outside of baseball. The Pittsburgh native secured a summer internship with Allegheny Health Network and as part of the onboarding process, he had to give a urine sample. That test dramatically changed the course of Miller’s life, as it was discovered he was dealing with Type 1 diabetes. He spent three days in the hospital after the diagnosis and was able to return to school — and to the mound for one more outing that season. He says he immediately began feeling stronger once he was aware of the condition and was able to manage it.
Over that summer, Miller put on good weight and began to see gains with his stuff on the mound, as well. His junior season at Waynesburg was a 180 from his sophomore campaign. In 67 2/3 innings, he posted a 1.86 ERA and struck out 97. The Waynesburg program didn’t have radar guns, however, so while Miller felt stronger, he didn’t know how much his stuff had ticked up until a workout hosted by the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he was clocked at 94. His fastball continued to improve from there.
“It was encouraging that all the hard work that I had been putting in in the past that really hadn’t had anything to show for it was starting to become something that had a lot to show for it,” he said.
By his senior season in 2020, Miller started to get more notice from scouts, including A’s area scout Matt Higginson. Miller struck out 24 in 14 innings over two outings for Waynesburg before the pandemic canceled the rest of that season. Higginson advocated strongly for the A’s to draft Miller later that summer, but with the draft trimmed to five rounds, his name wasn’t called. Miller received a few offers as an undrafted free agent, but he ultimately didn’t sign.
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“At that point, there weren’t any minor leagues going on, so I didn’t think that was the best choice because I’d be signing to not play, essentially,” he said.
Instead, Miller — armed with his undergraduate degree in finance — planned to take a full-time job with Allegheny Health Systems and start what he figured was the rest of his life.
“At that point, I knew I had some baseball prowess, but I think I was a little hesitant to accept it fully,” he said. “I really wasn’t planning to pursue baseball like that before COVID.”
The pandemic shutdown created a unique opportunity for Miller, as he — like all NCAA spring sport athletes — was awarded an extra year of eligibility. Jim Chester, the head coach at Division I Gardner-Webb, knew of Miller through Miller’s high school coach and offered him an opportunity to spend his 2021 season in the Runnin’ Bulldogs program. Gardner-Webb had a one-year MBA program that fit Miller’s off-the-field career aspirations perfectly.
“Even if something didn’t work out, or my talents didn’t translate to the next level, it wouldn’t be necessarily a year I would regret,” he said. “I felt like I was going to be valued there.”
Chester has been a head coach at all three NCAA division classes and believed Miller would be able to compete in Division I, but he admits he didn’t know just how good Miller was until he stepped on campus and started throwing in scrimmages and games.
“Every deficiency he had, he just overcame every one of them in a short period of time,” Chester said in a recent phone interview.
When Miller transferred to Gardner-Webb, he moved from Higginson’s scouting territory to Neil Avent’s. At Higginson’s recommendation, Avent was at Gardner-Webb’s scout day and from Miller’s first bullpen, it was clear he was a legitimate prospect.
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“You spend that whole fall going through all the colleges and evaluating kids and then this kid comes out, throws in the bullpen, and we’re like, good gracious,” Avent said in a recent phone interview. “He threw hard. It was (94-97) and, and you’re going, ‘Who is this guy?’ And, you know, he threw a lot of strikes.”
That Miller wasn’t just a thrower but was able to locate his pitches despite his power arsenal made him stand out to Avent, who quickly made Miller a priority prospect last spring.
“In this day and age of a lot of guys just showing arm strength, this guy was able to throw it over the plate and put it where he wanted to and had very good fastball command,” Avent said. “It was certainly intriguing.”
Miller quickly established himself at the top of Gardner-Webb’s rotation. Over the course of the 2021 season, he would post a 3.30 ERA in a career-high 92 2/3 innings, striking out 121 and walking 30. He was no longer a well-kept secret by the time the draft rolled around in July.
“He had the ability to throw a baseball where he wanted to and in multiple counts, and I really believe that was the separator,” Chester said.
It’s difficult to predict how any draft will break down, but Avent was thrilled when Miller was available in the third round last season when the A’s had their pick. Although he was almost 23 at the time of the draft, Miller still had untapped potential left in his 6-foot-5, 200-pound frame that was still adding strength and not a lot of innings on his arm thanks to the missed 2020 season. Miller wasn’t sure how teams would assess him as an older prospect and admits it was a big relief when he heard his name called by the A’s.
“It wasn’t really a gamble, but it kind of felt like it throughout that (2021) year, going (to Gardner-Webb), leaving home, leaving everything I had planned for and worked for, for the past four years, but obviously chasing my dream,” Miller said. “I was very relieved when the moment actually came. And then after that, it was just exciting and looking forward to what was next.”
Check out https://t.co/xbLzFSBggi’s coverage of Mason Miller’s selection in the third round of the 2021 @MLBDraft by the @Athletics ⚾️ pic.twitter.com/Is1c7DcVlQ
— Gardner-Webb Baseball (@GWUBaseball) July 12, 2021
While the velocity and the big breaking ball were obvious separators for Miller, Chester says Miller’s work ethic made him an even more special prospect.
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“He was very meticulous about everything that he did. It was amazing,” Chester said. “Every detail meant something to him. Every pitch meant something to him. Everything that he did meant something to him. And even better, his teammates meant a lot to him.”
The A’s excitement over Miller continued to grow after he turned pro. He threw six dominant innings in the Arizona Complex League and then was one of the standout performers in the A’s fall instructional league. He carried that performance into spring training, but roughly a week before camp was set to break, Miller suffered a strained right subscapular — essentially a strained rotator cuff, though it wasn’t in the typical area of rotator cuff strains. The injury didn’t require surgery and was treated with a PRP injection in April. Thus began a long summer of rehab, and at various points, Miller wasn’t sure he’d be able to pitch in a competitive game this season. So when he was cleared to return to action for the final month of the regular season, it was a big relief.
Though Miller only made six official starts during the regular season, he packed a lot of development into those outings. After one start in Arizona, Miller jumped to High-A Lansing, where he threw seven innings over three starts. In those outings, he allowed only three hits and three runs and he struck out 13 while walking two.
But it was during his final two outings of the season with Triple-A Las Vegas where he was able to go against upper-level competition and truly assess where he was at heading into the Fall League. He threw three scoreless innings in his first Triple-A start, but then was touched for three runs in two innings in his last outing.
“I was really happy to challenge myself,” he said. “That was good for me knowing the different adjustments I need to make to stay at that level in the future.”
Miller’s fastball didn’t miss a beat when he returned to game action this summer. He regularly topped 100 and racked up 25 strikeouts in just 14 innings. Though Chester says Miller reached triple digits at Gardner-Webb, Miller didn’t actually get to see the three numbers flash on a radar gun until he turned pro last summer, where all of the outings are recorded.
“To actually be able to go back and watch (his outings) and see that for myself, it was pretty awesome,” he said.
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There wasn’t one mechanical tweak that Miller can point to as the reason for his continued velocity increase. He credits managing his diabetes and the changes to his training he made after joining the Gardner-Webb program that allowed him to build more baseball-beneficial strength.
But Miller acknowledged that velocity alone won’t make him successful in the major leagues.
“Seeing the numbers up on the board are really cool but it’s not what drives me,” he said. “I want to compete and win. Those are the more important things to me.”
Developing a starter’s pitch mix has been Miller’s biggest focus over the past year. His slider has improved significantly and he says it’s a toss-up for him between his fastball and slider when he really needs an out-pitch. Chester watched Miller’s second Aviators outing on MiLB.tv and came away impressed with how much the slider had improved in one year.
“That slider, it really seems like a big-league pitch,” Chester said. “It was really good here, don’t get me wrong, but it looks special now.”
Mason Miller's velocity is what it is (you know, 100+ mph, that sort of thing).
Check out this breaking stuff. pic.twitter.com/RRQrKr8spj
— Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) August 28, 2022
The next step for Miller will be learning to trust his changeup, which he worked on all summer during his rehab but didn’t get a chance to use as often as he would’ve liked in his shorter starts in Lansing and Las Vegas. He was able to work it into his last start with the Aviators and was pleased with the results.
“It’s a different look for the hitters,” he said. “Having that third pitch will be a really big weapon for me.”
With a month of throwing in games under his belt, Miller feels like his season is just getting started, and he’s thrilled to be participating in the Arizona Fall League as part of the Mesa Solar Sox squad, whose season began Monday evening. Despite the missed time, his prospect status has continued to rise. A’s assistant GM Billy Owens referred to Miller as one of the A’s “elite prospects.” If he reaches the major leagues, he will be just the third player to do so for each of his collegiate programs. Miller bet on himself in 2020 when he walked away from a secure job to take one more shot at a baseball dream. Now he’s on the precipice of making that dream a reality.
(Photo: Natasha Daniels / Lansing Lugnuts)
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