Los Angeles Dodgers Rookie Does Something Not Done in Team History For More Than 20 Years
Los Angeles Dodgers top pitching prospect Bobby Miller did something the organization hadn't had happen in more than 20 years on Tuesday night.
Making his major league debut against the first-place Atlanta Braves, Miller went five innings, allowing just four hits and one run. He walked one, struck out five and got the win as the Dodgers won 8-1.
After the game, Matthew Brownstein of the New York Times tweeted this nugget:
Bobby Miller is the first #Dodgers pitcher to toss at least five innings while allowing no more than one run & striking out 5+ in his MLB debut since Kazuhisa Ishii on April 6, 2002.
The Dodgers have brought along some of the best young pitchers in baseball in the last 20 years, so this is quite a feat. If Clayton Kershaw, Julio Urias, Dustin May or Walker Buehler never did it, then you want to buy some Bobby Miller stock.
Miller is the Dodgers top-ranked pitching prospect and a top-20 prospect in the game. He was a first-round pick in 2020.
Here is his full MLB.com prospect profile:
Miller didn't crack Louisville's rotation until partway through his sophomore year and the pandemic ended his junior season after four starts, so several teams had concerns about his delivery and risk. That allowed the Dodgers to grab him with the 29th overall pick in the 2020 Draft and a $2,197,500 bonus, which looks like a steal now that he has a four-pitch repertoire that rivals that of any mound prospect in the Minors. He hit 100 mph while striking out Shohei Ohtani in an exhibition last April and again while fanning the side at the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, highlights from a season in which he whiffed 145 in 112 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A.
Miller throws exceptionally hard and maintains his velocity, parking at 97-99 mph for innings at a time and topping out at 101 with a running four-seamer -- and he also can unveil a two-seamer that reaches triple digits. His upper-80s slider can climb to 92 mph and is a plus-plus weapon with two-plane depth at its best. His upper-80s changeup fades and sinks, giving him a third well above-average pitch at times, and his low-80s curveball is a solid fourth offering.
Since turning pro, Miller has calmed down his delivery and provided more strikes, and there no longer are questions about his ability to remain in the rotation. He needs to improve his pitch sequencing, because he can get too predictable and his fastball sometimes gets hit harder than it should. While he still can refine his overall command and do a better job of finding the zone with his changeup, he's pretty much big league ready and looks like a future frontline starter.
The Dodgers and Braves will play each other again on Wednesday at 7:20 p.m. ET. Tony Gonsolin will pitch for LA while Bryce Elder gets the ball for Atlanta.
The Dodgers enter the matchup at 31-19 through 50 games while the Braves are 29-19.
