Dodgers Prospects: Bobby Miller’s Calling Card May Be His ‘Fourth Best Pitch’
Dodgers pitching prospect Bobby Miller has a good fastball. A really, really good fastball. Just ask a bunch of hitters, including Shohei Ohtani.
Bobby Miller gets Shohei Ohtani looking at 100 MPH gas for his first K at Dodger Stadium. ?
It's Bobby's World! #Dodgers
— Doug McKain (@DMAC_LA) April 6, 2022
That fastball is a big part of the reason Miller is L.A.’s No. 2 prospect according to both MLB Pipeline and Baseball Prospectus. But as BP’s Jeffrey Paternostro says in his write-up of Miller on their Dodgers prospects list (definitely worth the read), the fastball isn’t even his best pitch.
Miller’s fastball might legitimately be his fourth-best pitch, sitting in the upper-90s with decent ride, and he’ll occasionally show you a power sinker wrinkle as well. The command and strike-throwing with the pitch still aren’t quite sharp enough though and that can lead to a few too many walks or just general inefficiency. Both of Miller’s breaking balls are easy plus. … Miller’s changeup isn’t as visually impressive, but the 10-15 mph gap off the fastball leads to plenty of whiffs despite less than impressive depth or fade.
So by my count that’s four plus-or-better pitches in the repertoire. Yeah, the command isn’t great, and he may be a frustrating starter at times, but Miller is going to be a starter, and a good one.
Okay, so Paternostro might have been exaggerating when he said the fastball was the fourth-best pitch, because the changeup is only as good as it is because of the fastball. But a pitcher with four “plus-or-better” pitches — and remember, “plus” in scout speak means “good,” and “plus plus” means really good — could be a nightmare on opposing hitters.
Looking at Miller’s results in the minors, it’s clear he still has a few things to figure out about pitch sequencing and command, but the tools are there to make Miller a legitimate ace within the next few years. It doesn’t get much more exciting than that.
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