After dropping the first two games of the annual exhibition Freeway Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers look to get back on track when they host the L.A. Angels in their Spring Training finale at Dodger Stadium.
After watching Walker Buehler and Julio Urias struggle in their final tuneups on back-to-back nights, the Dodgers are sending top pitching prospect Bobby Miller to the mound on what is his 23rd birthday.
Unlike Buehler and Urias, who have already solidified spots in the Dodgers’ Opening Day rotation, Miller will begin the 2022 season with Double-A Tulsa. He nevertheless is grateful for the opportunity to start against the Angels as he wasn’t expecting to be with the club this late in the spring, via SportsNet LA:
“Very excited. Wasn’t expecting all this but thankful to be doing it. Excited to be here.”
Miller will be facing an Angels lineup that features multiple All-Stars, including Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon, among others. While that could be intimidating to a young pitcher, Miller plans to give it his all to whoever steps into the batter’s box against him:
“A lot of competitiveness out there no matter who is at the plate. I’m going to bring it to any hitter no matter who it is and respect them at the same time, obviously. But yeah you’ll be seeing a lot of competitiveness out there.”
Miller was selected by the Dodgers in the first round (No. 29 overall) of the 2020 MLB Draft. He was included in the organization’s player pool at their alternate training camp that year due to the Minor League season getting canceled.
Miller’s first experience in professional baseball began with High-A Great Lakes and included a brief stint with Double-A Tulsa. The 22-year-old went 2-2 with a 1.91 ERA over 14 games (11 starts) for the Loons, then struggled a bit with the Drillers as he pitched to a 4.82 ERA in three starts.
After being limited to 56.1 innings during the regular season due to an oblique strain, Miller enjoyed pitching against some of the best Minor League competition in the Arizona Fall League.
Miller projected to make MLB debut in 2022
Although Miller will begin the 2022 season in the Minors, all signs point to him making his MLB debut at some point this year. Jim Callis, Sam Dykstra and Jonathan Mayo of MLB Pipeline previously picked the right-hander as the Dodgers prospect most likely to pitch in the Majors this season.
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