Miller brimming with confidence after elite finish to 2024
Daniel Kramer
@DKramer_PEORIA, Ariz. -- Bryce Miller has the personality and intellect that might make him a great baseball coach in the distant future, but the 26-year-old hadn¡¯t really thought about it until this offseason.
The Mariners starting pitcher and Lone Star State native was invited to speak at the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame banquet in January, specifically about what¡¯s made him so rapidly successful in the Majors. Miller was asked to speak for 20 minutes, but he couldn¡¯t help himself.
¡°I ended up talking for about 30 minutes,¡± Miller said on Friday from Seattle's Spring Training, ¡°about kind of just dominating the zone and the importance of winning your 0-0 and your 1-1 [counts]. And a lot of the coaches that were there took that information back and used it for their guys.¡±
So, maybe it¡¯ll be Miller in the role to deliver that type of information way down the road?
¡°I don't know, depending how long I play and if I can buy a ranch or not,¡± he joked.
Miller¡¯s makeup has made him maybe the one player in Seattle who can truly resonate to all corners of the clubhouse. He speaks Spanish, allowing him to connect with Latin American players. He¡¯s a pitcher, which puts him in a group that can often beat to its own drum. He¡¯s humorous, which works with everyone. And he only plays every five days, which leaves plenty of in-between time for his curious character to roam.
But don¡¯t let the quick wit fool you -- Miller is also incredibly smart.
¡°He's able to slow things down and utilize his whole brain,¡± said Trent Blank, Mariners director of pitching strategy. ¡°He is really intelligent, and he's also got an emotional intelligence as well that people talk about, which is great. He's an awesome teammate.¡±
Miller enters his second full season and third overall on the heels of a dominant -- and sustained -- finish, when he compiled a 1.94 ERA over the final 15 of his 31 starts. More telling was his stamina and stuff down the stretch, as Miller carried his 95.3 mph average fastball velocity into September and mixed his secondaries more than ever. Since his debut, too, he's never missed a start.
For an arm that arrived in the Majors in May 2023 with virtually one pitch, Miller wound up throwing seven different offerings last season -- and he intends to keep exploring more shapes and movements to round out his repertoire.
Specifically, Miller spent much of his offseason throwing program refining a cutter that was admittedly a work in progress last year, regularly confiding in Blank via texts -- some that came so regularly that Blank joked back at Miller by responding in the wee hours of the morning.
¡°When I'm adding a pitch, when I'm working on something -- like, the first step is to find the shape and get comfortable with the shape,¡± Miller said, ¡°and then afterwards, figure out how to locate it.¡±
The splitter and knuckle curve became big weapons against lefties -- who ambushed him during his rookie season for a .917 OPS compared to a .663 OPS in his sophomore year -- while the sinker, sweeper and slider were far more effective against righties, who had just a .512 OPS against him in 2024. Moreover, only 20 MLB pitchers last year accumulated more innings than Miller¡¯s 180 1/3.
A fast-rising prospect just two years ago -- whose role as either a starter or reliever in the Majors was still unclear -- Miller has firmly established himself thanks to the evolution of his arsenal and sustained durability.
¡°It was big for me,¡± Miller said of his strong finish. ¡°I think the second half of last season I kind of just put everything together, and ending the season like that is big going into the offseason, and just kind of gave me something to build on. I think the way the second half of the year went, it went really well, and I still had a lot of things that I can get better at.¡±