Phillies top prospect Miller 'ready for all challenges'

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TORONTO -- Dave Dombrowski’s career in baseball has afforded him the opportunity to talk to some of baseball’s all-time greats.

Dombrowski had countless conversations over the years with Hall of Famer Al Kaline.

Kaline made his big league debut with the Tigers in 1953 at 18 years old. He struggled in his first full season, but he hit his stride as a 20-year-old in 1955. He led the Majors with 200 hits and a .340 batting average, making his first American League All-Star team and finishing second to Yogi Berra in AL MVP voting.

“He used to tell me, ‘Hey, if you’re good, you can play,’” Dombrowski said Tuesday afternoon at Rogers Centre.

Kaline came up in conversation Tuesday because the Phillies promoted Aidan Miller, their No. 1 prospect, to Double-A Reading. Miller, the No. 28 prospect in baseball per MLB Pipeline, turned 20 on June 9, making him more than three years younger than the average position player in the Eastern League.

The promotion has accelerated Miller’s timeline to the big leagues.

“I’ve never hesitated if they’re very talented and if they have the tools,” Dombrowski said. “They have to go through a learning experience, of course, but they can handle it. Of course, it’s not fair to compare [young players] to Al Kaline and those Hall of Famers. But so many of those Hall of Famers played when they were 19 or 20. A number of them did. Their talents just took over.”

Phillies assistant general manager of player development Preston Mattingly explained the decision to promote Miller.

“The second this kid stepped foot in the organization, I could’ve told you that he’s going to be ready for all challenges that come his way, just from the way he’s made, from a work ethic standpoint, from a mentality standpoint [and] how driven he is,” Mattingly said. “He wants the challenges. And we just thought at this point, it’s time to challenge him. Let the upper-level competition gauge his offseason. If he struggles with a certain thing up there, it will help build a blueprint for his offseason. And if he goes up there and performs really well, it’s not going to change who he is.”

It’s easy for Phillies fans to dream on a player like Miller. Talent evaluators have said he is Philadelphia’s best position-player prospect since at least Chase Utley.

“The player always dictates when he’s ready and when he’s not,” Mattingly said. “There’s still a lot of things he needs to work on, but he’s going to attack those every day. So, when he’s ready, I think it’s up to him.”

If you’re wondering how Miller might fit into the team’s plans in the next season or two -- Trea Turner is in the second year of an 11-year contract and Alec Bohm is under team control through 2026 -- just know that those things have a way of sorting themselves out.

“[Miller is] talented enough to play a lot of different positions,” Dombrowski said. “We plan to keep him in the infield, but you see how your positions fit at that point. Those things … I mean, look at Bryson Stott. He’s our second baseman. He was a shortstop, too, but we needed a second baseman. But he handled it very easily, and he’s made himself an outstanding second baseman.”