A's Mason Miller Returns to Mound, Reminds Fans He's the Real Deal

Mason Miller returned to the mound for Wednesday's finale, and Kevin Smith delivered the big blast

Mason Miller returned to the A's roster for the first time since early May and tossed a casual two innings in relief, hit 102 on the radar gun, and struck out the side in his second and final inning of work. Third baseman Kevin Smith said Miller's excellence on Wednesday was expected after watching him rehab in Las Vegas.

"He's been dicing down there. It was just more of the same. When you can throw 100, you can dot, and have a good slider like that, you're going to have a lot of success."

Miller came into the game in the sixth inning for his first work on a big-league mound since May 7 in Kansas City. He worked two perfect innings, threw six pitches over 100 miles per hour, and struck out the side in the seventh. For someone that has thrown just 23 1/3 innings in the big leagues, he has a lot of fans excited for what could be next season alongside a plethora of young players that are impressing in Oakland. 

Mark Kotsay said after the game the plan for Miller the rest of the way will probably be as an opener a time or two. "I think it's a good role for him to be in control of his pitch count, his workload, and make sure he finishes through the end of the season." 

Another one of those players is Smith, whose three-run homer in the sixth inning ended up being the difference in the A's 5-2 victory. While the 27-year-old second baseman/shortstop hasn't had his skills translate to the Majors just yet, he's hoping to make the most of this opportunity. "We've got a lot of good young players. Everyone is going to get their opportunities, you've got to capitalize on them when you get up here. Obviously I haven't played as well as I've wanted to when I'm up here" Smith said after the game.

With Triple-A Las Vegas he's hit .324 with a .372 on-base percentage (OBP) and walloped 16 homers in 42 games in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. As a member of the A's, Smith has hit .185 with a .216 OBP across two seasons (81 games). 

Smith finished up last season in Vegas on a hot streak, batting .365 with a .405 OBP and 11 home runs in the month of September. He followed that up by hitting .395 with a .469 OBP and two homers in 43 spring at-bats, but was ultimately left off the Opening Day roster. 

Now he has an opportunity to prove himself at the big-league level heading into 2024. "He's here to take advantage of this opportunity to show us what he can bring to this club" A's manager Mark Kotsay said postgame. "He did that today with a big hit. We definitely have time over the course of these twenty plus games to evaluate and make a determination on how Kevin goes forward with this club."

While the A's are evaluating their roster for next year, they're also playing some of their best baseball of the season, going 9-7 in their past 17 games. Wednesday's starter JP Sears put up another solid performance, going five innings, giving up four hits, allowing one run, walking four and striking out three. His fastball command wasn't there for him all afternoon, but he gutted his way through five frames in order to pick up his fourth win of the season. On the 4-2 home stand, Sears collected two wins and doubled his season total. 

"I feel like that's part of being a starting pitcher" Sears said about learning to grind through games without his best stuff. "This year has definitely been a big learning curve for me. It's just about getting the girth of those innings in and trying to get to the fifth, sixth, seventh inning every time. You learn a lot about yourself having guys on base having to make pitches. I just feel more confident each time I go out there whenever I'm able to do that." 

Kotsay said at the beginning of the Angels series that the goal the rest of the way is to play competitive baseball. Having a winning homestand for the first time all season is a pretty good start to achieving that goal.