Phillies' Star Prospect Hits First Professional Homer in Big Moment

The Philadelphia Phillies' star prospect hit his first professional home run when it mattered most, propelling their Single-A affiliate to the Finals.

The Philadelphia Phillies have put much more focus on developing their pipeline in recent years. This effort has paid dividends as recent graduates Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott are impact players in a lineup full of stars.

The front office took a major risk when they drafted 19-year-old Aidan Miller out of high school with their first pick of the 2023 MLB Draft.

How he develops will really shine light on how the Phillies' pipeline brings their prospects up through the minor league ranks.

After spending 10 games playing rookie ball, Miller was called-up to the Single-A affiliate.

In 10 regular season games with Clearwater, he recorded a slash line of .216/.341/.297 with zero home runs or RBI.

However, in the Single-A postseason, the star prospect has risen to the occasion.

His first professional home run was a two-run shot in the third inning that gave Clearwater a 2-1 victory and moved them into the best-of-three Florida State League Finals that begins on Sunday, Sept. 17.

The home run was Miller's hardest hit ball in his Single-A career, recording an exit velocity of 109.3 mph. The result was that ball traveling 420 feet over the left field wall.

Ben Weinrib of MLB.com reports that Statcast calculates his first professional home run would have been a homer in all 30 MLB stadiums.

Miller is the No. 4 ranked prospect in the Philadelphia pipeline and is the No. 90 prospect overall as ranked by MLB.com.

The Phillies' scouting department were enamored with his hitting ability when they saw him play high school baseball and project that he could be an impact Major League player at some point.