Texas Rangers: Shelby Miller DFA’d after Struggling to Find His Groove

On Monday, the Texas Rangers DFA’s Shelby Miller. The club will now have to make a decision as to whether to trade, send down, or place him on waivers.

How did things come to this? Wasn’t it only a few years ago that, now former, Texas Rangers pitcher Shelby Miller was a blossoming young phenom in the St. Louis Cardinals organization set on securing the Redbirds with reliable pitching for an extended period of time?

Wasn’t it in 2013 that he came in third place in the National League Rookie of the Year voting? Wasn’t it just in 2015 that Miller, after being dealt by St. Louis to the Braves in a blockbuster deal that saw the Cardinals receive star Jason Heyward, posted an ERA of 3.02 in 33 starts for Atlanta and found himself in the All-Star Game?

And wasn’t it only in December of that year that Miller found himself in the middle of yet another major trade, this time being part of a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks for Dansby Swanson and Ender Inciarte?

Heading into the 2016 campaign, Shelby Miller was staring a very successful career directly in the face. Multiple organizations believed in him enough to give up decent hauls for him via trade. Now, he had to back up their confidence in him with his performance on the mound—a task that proved to be much more difficult than he could have imagined.

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Miller’s time in Arizona left an awful lot to be desired, mostly because a combination of injuries and regression caused him to only appear in 29 games from 2016-18. Conversely, in the three years prior to being acquired by the Diamondbacks, he started at least 31 games each season.

In April of 2016, Miller, whose exaggerated follow through is reminiscent of that of Tim Lincecum, injured his hand on the mound at Petco Park after releasing a pitch in a start against the Padres. In May, he went on the disabled list for another few weeks with a finger injury.

Then in late April of 2017, Miller announced he would be undergoing Tommy John surgery, ending his season before it could really get started. In 2018, after he worked to finally come back to the D-Backs rotation, shortly after his return, he experienced right elbow inflammation that landed him on the 60-day DL. He would end up making his way back to pitch in one more game for Arizona in late September of 2018, but in essence, Miller had lost two full years.

On November 30, 2018, the Diamondbacks non-tendered Miller, making him a free agent.

The Texas Rangers stepped in in January and inked Miller to a one-year contract worth $2 million plus possible incentives. With the signing, Texas and Miller both hoped a fresh start in a new league would serve to turn the former prodigy’s career around and set him back on his former path to stardom.

But by early summer, it was evident that Miller’s performance was not up to snuff for the Rangers to keep him around. He was moved from the starting rotation to the bullpen in May, but in about a month’s time as a reliever, Texas still couldn’t get the kind of production out of Miller necessary for them to justify a continued big league roster spot for him. The Rangers were on fire and poised to make a strong push for a wild-card playoff spot. They didn’t have room for a guy with an 8.59 ERA in 44 innings of work.

On July 1, the Texas Rangers designated the 28-year-old for assignment.

It’s amazing how quickly a Major League certainty can morph into a Minor League maybe. Four years ago, Shelby Miller was at the top of his game, with all of us spectator dreaming of many more similar years to come.

But baseball is the most humbling sport there is, and the success of today never guarantees anything tomorrow. No one knows what’s to come of Miller now, but my guess is that he’ll catch on with a Triple-A team somewhere.

Clearly, what Miller has been trying to do against big league batters over the past few seasons is not working. He’s still relatively young though, meaning he has plenty of time to refine his mechanics and overall approach to pitching before he grows too old.

I’d like to see Shelby Miller back in the Majors again, but the kind of work he needs to do to change what he does on the mound takes time. But if there’s any skill Miller’s learned through all of his rehabilitation from injuries, it’s the ability to be patient.

So keep an eye out for Shelby Miller in a big league uniform again one day. Here’s hoping he can see once more the kind of dominance that made him that highly-touted prospect and a National League All-Star.