MLB news: All-Star reliever Andrew Miller retires after 16 seasons
After a successful 16-year MLB career, 2016 American League Championship Series MVP Andrew Miller has announced his retirement. The 36-year-old left-hander is a two-time All-Star and won the 2015 Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year award.
Miller spent the past three years with the St. Louis Cardinals and is retiring with a career 4.03 ERA, 1.345 WHIP, 979 strikeouts, and a 7.6 WAR over 612 MLB games with 829 innings pitched.
Andrew Miller helped change the game for MLB relievers
Miller is known for changing the way relief pitchers were used in the postseason as traditionally relievers are only used for a single batter or frame and then switched out. Miller went two or three innings on multiple occasions in the postseason, opening up that door for MLB relievers. Among Miller’s legacies will be his ability to perform in high-leverage situations.
He has also been a very vocal advocate for the next generation of MLB players during lockout negotiations in past years, voicing the importance of higher pay for young players as one of eight players who sat on the executive board of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA).
Along the same lines, Miller has one of the most successful postseason careers for a reliever in the modern era, posting a 0.93 ERA over 29 games. That includes over 23 scoreless innings and 54 strikeouts over a little more than 38 innings pitched.
In 2016, Miller broke record after record, setting new reliever marks for consecutive scoreless postseason innings by a reliever with 15 scoreless innings and most strikeouts in a single postseason by a reliever with 33 strikeouts.
Miller spent time with seven teams during his career and saw time in the postseason with the Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and Cleveland Indians after being drafted from the University of North Carolina with the sixth overall pick by the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 MLB draft.
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Despite struggling as a starting pitcher early in his career, Miller transitioned to a reliever during his time with the Red Sox in 2011 and then had a long, successful career, which included Cy Young Award votes in 2015 and 2016.