Phillies pick high school third baseman Aidan Miller in first round of draft

If more scouts actually saw Aidan Miller play this year, he might have gotten drafted earlier in the first round Sunday night. But Miller broke a bone in his left hand and missed nearly all of his senior season at a Tampa-area high school.

Luckily for the Phillies, Brian Barber lives in Florida.

Miller played less than a handful of games this spring for J.W. Mitchell High in Trinity, Fla., near Tampa. But the Phillies director of amateur scouting was able to attend two of them, in addition to about “20-25 games,” by his best estimate, last summer.

So, when the Phillies took their turn in the first round, Barber felt confident in the team’s evaluation — and in the health of Miller’s hand — to select the righty-hitting, 19-year-old infielder with the 27th overall pick.

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“We had the opportunity to see him work out and see him play after getting healthy and being cleared to play,” Barber said on a conference call late Sunday. “We’re not worried about the strength. It’s already returned. Not worried about the power. It’s already returned. I feel really good about the player himself and where [the health of] the hamate [bone] is.”

Miller, who plays three infield positions (third base, shortstop, and second base), will stay at shortstop for now, according to Barber, but may profile best at third. He’s committed to the University of Arkansas but is expected to forgo college and sign with the Phillies before the Aug. 1 deadline. The recommended slot value for the No. 27 pick is $2.97 million.

The first round was loaded with position players, convenient for the Phillies given their pitching-heavy farm system. The Phillies targeted about 10 players in preparation for their pick. Given that one pitcher was selected between No. 11 and No. 30, Barber felt confident the Phillies would land a position player.

Miller’s raw power separated him from other players, according to Barber.

“He’s definitely stronger than a lot of other kids,” Barber said. “If you have the opportunity to see video of him at some point soon, you will see definitely the lower-half strength. He might have some of the strongest legs you will ever see from a high school player. That translates into the power in his game, as well.”

Miller, listed at 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, went 72-for-187 (.385) with 15 doubles, seven triples, eight home runs, 47 RBI, 36 stolen bases, 44 walks and a 1.176 OPS in 62 games in high school. He was also named MVP of the 2022 Perfect Game All-American Classic.

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“He’s a guy that we identified last summer when he was playing in all the different showcase events, watched him all the way through the fall with Team USA, and he was just one of the best hitters in the country that we saw,” Barber said. “There’s strength. There’s an ability to hit the ball hard, there’s bat-to-ball skills.

“We walked away from last year and just absolutely loved the bat.”

Miller also has baseball bloodlines. His father, Jason, was drafted by the Rangers in 1994 and owns a training facility near Tampa that attracts many major leaguers in the offseason. Miller’s brother, Jackson, was a second-round pick of the Reds in 2020.

Rival talent evaluators agree that the Phillies’ farm system is deeper in pitching than position players.

The Phillies selected right-handers Mick Abel and Andrew Painter in the first round in 2020 and 2021, respectively, and have hard-throwing Griff McGarry in double A and Alex McFarlane in single A. Orion Kerkering, recently promoted to double A, is an ascending reliever prospect. They signed Wen Hui Pan out of Taiwan this year and added Noah Song in the Rule 5 draft.

Justin Crawford, last year’s first-round pick, is the Phillies’ top-ranked position prospect, along with fellow center fielder Johan Rojas. But Miller would add power to a system that doesn’t have much beyond undrafted outfielder Carlos De La Cruz.

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“If I would’ve told you the truth, at least, when the day started, I would’ve put the odds at close to 90% that we were going to walk away with a position player,” Barber said. “The board wasn’t built out of that need. It just happened to be what was staring me in the face as you looked at some of the possibilities that were going to be there. It was really an excellent crop, both college and high school position players this year.”

The Phillies forfeited their second-round pick after signing Trea Turner as a qualifying-offer free agent in the offseason. They won’t make another pick in the 20-round draft until the third round (No. 98 overall) Monday. They have a fourth-round pick (No. 130) but not a fifth-rounder.