Aidan Miller no longer doing baseball activities, but Phillies still ‘optimistic’ he will return
The top prospect has not played in a minor league game this season due to recurring lower back soreness. However, the Phillies are not counting out a return to action this year.
LOS ANGELES — Top Phillies prospect Aidan Miller is no longer doing baseball activities due to his back injury.
The Phillies announced that Miller, who has not played this season due to recurring lower-back soreness, had begun “light baseball activities” on May 19. On Sunday, general manager Preston Mattingly said that Miller has stopped those activities and is now rehabbing.
“Things come up, not that anything’s happened, but you just want to keep doing checkpoints throughout the year to make sure everything’s trending where we want to, and then kind of proceed from there,” Mattingly said.
Miller, a shortstop who turns 22 next week and was the Phillies’ first-round draft pick in 2023, has not swung a bat all season. Even so, the Phillies are not counting out a return to action this year.
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“I think we’re optimistic he’s going to play in a game this season,” Mattingly said.
When asked if there was any timeline, Mattingly said the Phillies are “leaning heavily on the medical staff.”
Miller slashed .264/.392/.433 in 116 games last year between double A and triple A. His lower-back issue has been a nagging problem. It flared up at the end of last season and because of it, Miller was held out of participating as planned in the Arizona Fall League.
Miller was a nonroster invitee to major league spring training but was shut down when the back issue recurred. He has remained at the Phillies complex in Clearwater, Fla., to continue his rehab.
“I’ve not talked to Aidan personally, but just knowing the kid from the minor leagues, he’s a very competitive person who loves to play baseball,” Mattingly said. “And so I’m sure like anybody who’s on the IL, it’s tough. You want to be out there with your guys, with your team. And obviously, he’s at a stage where he’s knocking on the door and kind of looking to keep getting better every year and get up here. So I’m sure he’s really frustrated.”
First-inning ABS strategy
In the first inning of Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Dodgers, Bryce Harper tapped his head to initiate an automated ball-strike challenge on a strike-three call.
He ended up being correct — by 0.1 of an inch — and ultimately worked a walk from Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki.
It’s not the only time this series the Phillies have been aggressive with challenges in the first inning, and it hasn’t always worked out. On Friday, Trea Turner challenged a strike-three call from Dodgers righty Justin Wrobleski. That time, the call was upheld and the Phillies found themselves down a challenge early.
In both Harper and Turner’s situations, the Phillies had no runners on base.
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Interim manager Don Mattingly said that in general, he doesn’t mind a first-inning challenge, but they would ideally come in a high-leverage situation, in terms of the count or runners on base.
One of those arose in the first inning Sunday. With Andrew Painter pitching and a strong runner on first in Shohei Ohtani, J.T. Realmuto challenged a ball-four call on Freddie Freeman that was overturned for strike three and a key second out.
Even though it came in the first inning, that’s exactly what the Phillies have wanted to see more of from Realmuto.
“Sometimes early in the year, we didn’t feel like he challenged enough,” Mattingly said. “When he thought there were strikes, he just didn’t challenge. He’s gotten more aggressive with that.”
Extra bases
Aaron Nola is on track to be activated from the paternity list and make his scheduled start in Tuesday’s series opener against the visiting Padres. Mattingly said he threw a bullpen session in Philadelphia on Sunday. Nola (3-4, 5.72 ERA) is scheduled to start opposite San Diego righty Randy Vásquez (5-3, 3.28) following Monday’s off day.
The Phillies are desperate for right-handed hitting. Mike Trout bats right-handed. But Trout also has full no-trade rights and has never asked the Angels to move him. Joe Maddon, Trout's manager for three years, joins "Phillies Extra" to answer the most important question: Why? And will this be the year that Trout asks out? Maddon also shares his thoughts on the Phillies' managerial change, Kyle Schwarber, Brandon Marsh, and more. Watch here.
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