On November 9th, James Chipman launched the 2012 Seedlings to Stars Florida State League All-Star Team with an intro post. He went on to reveal 8 members of the team before leaving our site to focus his writing efforts on out Detroit Tigers site, Motor City Bengals. Nathaniel and I decided that we needed to reveal the rest of the team to take the series to its planned endpoint. To tie up the loose end I will be unveiling the rest of roster and will follow a similar format to what James was doing for consistency.
Today I am pleased to announce our selection for the team’s #1 starter.
Name: Shelby Miller
Height: 6′ 3″
Weight: 195-205 lbs
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Age: 21
2011 FSL Team: Palm Beach Cardinals
2011 FSL Stats: 53.0 IP (9 GS), 2.89 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 6.8 H/9, 3.4 BB/9, 13.8 SO/9, 4.05 SO/BB
Background:
Shelby Miller was among a select few that were considered to be the top prep RHP available in the 2009 draft. It was expected he’d come off the board in the first 10-12 picks based on his talent and the fact that he wasn’t a huge signability risk. Instead he fell to the St Louis Cardinals who were surely elated to land such a special talent with the 19th pick in the first round. He was the 4th HS righty off the board after Matt Hobgood (Orioles – 5th overall), Zack Wheeler (Giants – 6th), and Jacob Turner (Tigers – 9th). Hobgood, who was clearly an overdraft and signability selection, has not fared well in the minors. The other three however are well on their way to potential stardom. Wheeler fits solidly in most Top-100 lists while Turner and Miller are both widely ranked in the Top-10 and both are clearly the top prospects in their respective organizations.
In case you are curious, Nathaniel ranked Wheeler #51, Miller #8 and Turner #6 in the recently concluded Seedlings to Stars 2012 Top-100 list.
General Thoughts:
It’s not exactly breaking news, but Shelby Miller is good, really good. He may not have had the best season statistically among his fellow FSL All-Star rotation-mates I couldn’t think of anyone better to name as the ace of the staff. While he started 2011 mowing down FSL batters, he spent more that half of 2011 in the Texas League. The venue and competition may have changed but the results were very similar.
Shelby Miller now has 247.0 innings of pro ball on his resume. It’s a resume that also includes a 3.17 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 7.8 H/9 and 312 SO to go along with 89 BB. That works out to a career 11.4 SO/9 and very strong 3.55 SO/BB in 51 minor league starts.
He has pitched in the 2010 and 2011 Futures Games and has also taken part in major league Spring Training with the Cardinals each of the last 2 seasons. Shelby has risen to the occasion a number of times but none was more impressive than his 2010 Midwest League playoff start for Quad Cities. Just 19 years old at the time, he declared he would pitch a shutout and then went out and backed up his words with a 7-inning, 13 strikeout performance. And yes, it was a shutout.
Scouting Report:
If you want a one sentence breakdown, here goes; Miller is armed with all of the tools you could possibly want.
He’s got an ideal frame and a clean, repeatable delivery. On top of that he throws easy with minimal effort and is capable of maintaining his velocity and stuff deep into games. He uses his size to throw on a downhill plane, further augmenting an explosive fastball that features a great deal of life and sits in the mid-90s. He also throws a curve and changeup that both project as plus major league pitches down the road, but both offerings need further refinement before reaching that status. His changeup especially has a chance to be something special, but it’s still a work in progress – as you’d expect from a prospect who just turned 21 in October.
We’ve already established that he’s got the size, the delivery and stuff you’d want in an ace but the package gets even better.
On top of everything else Miller gets high marks for his work ethic and his poise on the mound. He’s the rare pitching talent that is aggressive but at the same time is able to maintain his emotional cool, even on the days when things aren’t going well. As his playoff proclamation suggests he’s got that layer of confidence and swagger that is a common trait among the vast majority of baseball’s elite talents.
As you can tell I’m a huge fan of and believer in Shelby Miller. It’s hard not to be when the guy is about as complete of a package as you could want out of a 21-year prospect.
Future:
Miller has all the markings of an ace in the making and should be fronting the Cardinals rotation in just a few years if all goes well. St Louis has managed his workload beautifully slowing kicking it up from 104.1 in 2010 to 139.2 between the two stops in 2011. Another increase of 30 or so innings in 2012 and you have a pitcher ready to slide seamlessly into the big league rotation and throw 200+ innings in 2013.
Given the state of the rotation in St. Louis, Miller figures to open his season in Memphis (AAA) where he will get to ply his craft against Pacific Coast League hitters. I’m never a fan of jumping pitching prospects from Double-A straight to the bigs and the Cardinals have the luxury of allowing him to marinate in the minors for most if not all of the 2012 season. This will benefit both the pitcher and the organization in the long run, and he won’t be far away in case of a rotational emergency in St. Louis.
I still lament that the Royals passed on Miller. That’s not a knock on Aaron Crow who had a very successful debut season in Kansas City’s bullpen and will have a chance to crack the starting rotation this year in Spring Training. I wasn’t unhappy that they drafted Crow but if you give me a chance to draft a high school guy that legitimately projects to be an ace … well I don’t really need to finish that thought do I?
To review the rest of our 2011 Florida State League All-Star Team, click here.
~~~~~
You can follow us on Twitter @Seedlings2Stars and yours truly @thebaseballfish. You can also keep up to date with all things S2S by liking our Facebook page.