If nominative determinism really did shape the universe, Aidan Miller would’ve been a Milwaukee Brewer. But they passed on him with the 18th pick of the 2023 MLB draft, leaving the Phillies to take him at 27. That’s a crushing blow for enjoyers of puns based on stadium names, but a windfall for Phillies fans; analyses of the pick tended to note that he had the talent of a player who you’d expect to have gone off the board sooner. Miller, a shortstop out of Florida’s J.W. Mitchell High School, slipped to the end of the first round due to suffering a broken hamate bone during his senior high school season (if that sounds familiar, you’re either an orthopedist or you’re remembering Mike Trout’s injury to the same bone last season). The injury wasn’t too much of a concern for the Phillies, and they welcomed him into the fold.
Miller started his professional career in the Florida Complex League this past July, where he played 10 games. After that short introduction, he was promoted to single-A and the Clearwater Threshers, where 10 regular season games and a run to the Florida State League finals followed. The sample size as a pro is too small to draw much of a conclusion, but his tenure as a highly-touted prep player gave scouts plenty of time to evaluate.
Read the assessments of Miller across various outlets, and a general picture emerges: Miller has upper body strength in spades, which gives him an above-average arm, good bat speed, and plenty of raw power when he swings the bat. How he swings the bat may be something of a problem, with his bat wrap (a tendency to start a swing with the barrel of the bat behind the head, increasing the distance to be covered before contact) raising some eyebrows. Ben Zeidman of Baseball Prospectus called his wrap “unorthodox”, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs called it both “gnarly” and “extreme”, and Baseball America dubbed his swing as a whole “a bit unique”. It’s not all bad news in the swing department; Jeffrey Paternostro of BP called the swing “pretty optimized already”, and even those who are more skeptical acknowledge that Miller’s bat speed allows him to overcome the issues wrap tends to cause (at least at this level; Longenhagen notes that players with similar swing profiles have found that it works until they encounter major league velocity and it suddenly doesn’t).
Miller’s bat has drawn more attention than his glove; that should be taken more as a compliment towards his hitting than a slight towards his fielding. What has been written about his fielding can be summed up quickly: he’s got a good arm, and most consider third base to be his probable position once he makes it to Philadelphia.
Miller will likely start the season where he ended the last, with a Clearwater Threshers cap atop his head. With a mere 80 plate appearances as a professional under his belt, he still has plenty left to show before he can start looking for apartments in the Lehigh Valley, let alone Philly. This season, he’ll look to demonstrate that his power potential translates to game action, that he can pair it with good plate discipline, and that the wrap isn’t too much to worry about. If he does, you can start thinking about a cool Miller at the hot corner.
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