Phillies top prospect Aidan Miller to have spinal procedure; might still play this season
The infielder has been diagnosed with discogenic pain and facet inflammation in the lumbar spine, the team announced Wednesday after months of nonspecific updates.
After months of intermittent progress and frustrating setbacks, Phillies top prospect Aidan Miller will have a spinal procedure Friday to relieve a low back condition.
The Phillies expect he will play this season, though it’s doubtful he will reach the majors.
“I’d say it’s hard,” president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Wednesday. “If he doesn’t start playing until Aug. 1, it would be very difficult. But I can’t say [for sure], because if he comes back in six weeks and tears the cover off the ball, you never can tell.
“But that’s not really even the top of our mind at this point. It’s just, ‘Let’s get him healthy.’”
» READ MORE: From spring training: A frustrated Aidan Miller says his sore back is ‘getting better,’ but his return is uncertain
Miller, an infielder who turns 22 this week, likely would already be in the majors given the Phillies’ struggles to score runs. Entering play Wednesday night, they ranked 28th in the majors in OPS (.675) and last in OPS from right-handed hitters (.573).
But Miller’s back flared up in spring training, leaving him unable to swing a bat without pain.
The pain subsided with rest before recurring when Miller resumed baseball activity last month. After consulting multiple spine specialists, whom the team said Miller saw “over the last couple of weeks,” he was diagnosed with discogenic pain and facet inflammation in the lumbar spine, according to the Phillies.
Miller will undergo a radiofrequency ablation of the facet joints, an outpatient procedure described by the Phillies as “minimally invasive.” According to the Mayo Clinic, it can provide relief for “approximately nine to 12 months” but isn’t a permanent solution.
“It’s supposed to fix the issue,” Dombrowski said. “So, we’ll wait and we’ll see.”
The Phillies outlined a timetable in which Miller would resume playing in 6-8 weeks — almost certainly not until after the All-Star break and only once he has completed a spring-training-style build-up at team’s facility in Clearwater, Fla.
Dombrowski said the “best-case scenario” would have Miller playing in the minors by August and recouping lost at-bats in the Arizona Fall League in October and November.
Miller is a consensus top-25 prospect in the sport after being drafted in the first round (27th overall) in 2023. He had a breakout season last year, with 27 doubles, 14 homers, 59 stolen bases, and an .825 OPS between double A and triple A.
In spring training, Miller said he experienced back pain near the end of last season. The Phillies withdrew him from playing in the Arizona Fall League to prioritize rest.
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Dombrowski said Miller came to spring training without pain. The Phillies assigned him a locker between Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto. All signs pointed to him graduating to the majors this season.
“You always want to see a guy playing,” Harper said. “Obviously it’s been a tough stretch for him. But I just hope he gets better.”
The Phillies were hopeful Miller would recover without intervention.
“We’ve been very close,” Dombrowski said. “Numerous times we’ve been close to taking the next step. He has just not been able to quite get to that point.
“Sometimes you might say, ‘Well, let’s push through this, let’s push through that.’ It’s a youngster with a back. That’s not the route that we’re choosing or the doctors are choosing.”
Ricky Bottalico spouts opinions each day on sports-talk radio and the Phillies' television pre- and postgame show. But before all that, he had a solid career as a relief pitcher, even representing the Phillies in the 1996 All-Star Game at Veterans Stadium. With the baseball world set to descend on Philly again in a few weeks, Ricky Bo joined "Phillies Extra" to re-live his All-Star experience. Watch here.
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