Miller feeling fearless after escaping liner without serious injury

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Bobby Miller has stared down and conquered his biggest fear. Literally.

Miller said he has watched video of the play where he was struck in the head by a 105.5 mph line drive on Thursday “probably a hundred times.”

“Whenever I’ve seen a video of a pitcher getting hit in the head, I’ve never been able to watch the video,” Miller said Saturday in his first session with the Dodgers’ media since the incident.

“I’ve always been like, ‘Get that out of my face.’ I always feared that. But now that it has happened, I’ve been able to watch that. Scary moment, but it’s all good. I’m all right. I guess I don’t fear it as much any more, going through it.”

Miller said he still has a headache and sleep comes in fits and starts, but medical imagery showed no fractures. He remains in concussion protocol, meaning he must go through a series of prescribed steps before being cleared to get back on the mound.

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The video is not for the squeamish. Miller attempted to get his glove up but was unable to deflect the liner from Cubs first baseman Michael Busch, and the force knocked him to the ground. Medical personnel rushed to the mound, but after a few moments, Miller left the field under his own power.

“Adrenaline really kicks in right then,” Miller said. “Fall over, I didn’t really know what I was about to feel. You don’t feel it right away. It didn’t knock me out or anything, I didn’t lose any vision. I’m just glad it didn’t get me in the temple or the back of the head or in the front.

“That’s always kind of been one of my biggest fears, taking a line drive to the head. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It kind of knocked me down, but I was able to walk off all right. Hopefully get back to action soon. It could have been a lot worse. I’m really thankful for that.”

There have been several instances in baseball history where the outcome was indeed worse. Cleveland left-hander Herb Score was never the same after being struck by a Gil McDougald line drive in 1957.

More recently, Oakland’s Brandon McCarthy, Arizona’s Evan Marshall and new Houston Hall of Famer Billy Wagner missed significant time after being struck in the head by line drives.

McCarthy underwent surgery to relieve pressure on his brain after being struck in 2012, and Marshall had a similar procedure performed in 2015. Wagner missed three weeks in 1998.

“Right now I’m not nervous to go out there,” Miller said about returning to the mound, “but when that moment comes, we’ll see what happens. All I’m thinking about is just getting healthy and getting back on that field soon. That’s what I really want.”

Miller is among those competing for a spot in the Dodgers' starting rotation this spring, inasmuch as Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw will not be ready to pitch early.

Ohtani, for his part, threw 25 pitches in his bullpen session Saturday, his second bullpen of the spring. He threw two-seam, four-seam and cut fastballs while upping his pitch count from the 21 he threw earlier in the week.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said caution is the best course for Miller at this stage.

“Hopefully he continues to feel better, the headache dissipates,” Roberts said. “Each passing day, obviously it sets him back a little bit more, but his health is paramount. I think he will start to get active again soon.”

Miller, who was held out of activity Saturday, called his symptoms “nothing scary, nothing that I am worried about,” but added that his sleep has been affected.

“I’ve woken up a lot of times throughout the night,” Miller said. “Can’t really stop thinking about it, what happened. Just trying to get past that. That’s about it.”

Both Busch and Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly have reached out to Miller to offer support, as have many well-wishers in and out of the Dodgers’ organization.

“A lot of other people who I am super grateful for that were caring about me,” Miller said. “That really means a lot that people were wanting to know how I was doing.”