D-backs prospect Jared Miller dominating Arizona Fall League
With a dominating month of work in the Arizona Fall League, left-handed reliever Jared Miller has put himself in position to get a long look from the Diamondbacks come spring training.
Miller has yet to give up a run in nine appearances for the Salt River Rafters -- striking out 27 and allowing only five hits and three walks over 16 innings of work.
He leads the league in strikeouts, and with Fall League play finishing up this week, he's made a strong case as the league's pitcher of the year. Fall League hitters -- who rank among the top prospects in all of baseball -- are hitting .098 against him, and he's sruck out 27 of 56 batters.
The 6-foot-7 Miller was drafted as a starting pitcher out of Vanderbilt in the 11th round of the 2014 Draft. He was converted to a relief pitcher at the start of the 2016 season, but after some initial reservations, he's taken to the new role and put himself on a fast track to the majors.
Miller pitched at four levels during the 2016 season -- finishing the year at Triple-A Reno -- and had five saves, a 2.64 ERA and 80 strikeouts in 61 1/3 innings. He allowed just 36 hits and three home runs and walked 23.
"These are all guys that are on the cusp of the majors, and being sent here tells you the organization thinks you're on the cusp, too," Miller told Sam Dykstra of MiLB.com. "How you do here tells you how you fit in, how your stuff plays, that kind of stuff. I feel pretty confident right now.
Around the horn
The Rafters pitching staff features three other D-backs minor-leaguers, and all are performing capably.
Left-handed starter Josh Taylor is 1-0 with a 3.57 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings; reliever Joey Krehbiel is 3-1 with a 3.27 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 11 innings, and lefty reliever Gabe Speier is 1-0 with a 2.53 ERA in 10 2/3 innings.
Among the D-backs' hitters on the Salt River roster, third baseman Dawel Lugo has been the most impressive, batting .278 with five doubles and sharing the team-lead with 12 RBI. Second baseman Jamie Westbrook is hitting .245, and first baseman Kevin Cron is batting .194 with three home runs.
