SF Giants call up former All-Star starting pitcher Shelby Miller

The SF Giants September roster churn welcomed former All-Star pitcher Shelby Miller to the team on Thursday.
SF Giants call up former All-Star starting pitcher Shelby Miller
SF Giants call up former All-Star starting pitcher Shelby Miller /
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The SF Giants called up veteran right-handed pitcher Shelby Miller and optioned reliever Cole Waites to Triple-A Sacramento on Thursday prior to the team's game against the Rockies. Miller signed a minor-league contract with the Giants earlier this year and has spent the entire season in the minors up to this point. However, he will not have appeared in parts of 10 MLB seasons.

Miller was a first-round pick out of high school by the Cardinals in 2009 and quickly became a consensus top-100 prospect in the league. Miller made his big-league debut as a 21-year-old late in the 2012 season and was a part of the Cardinals bullpen in the playoffs when they faced off against the Giants in the NLCS.

The following year, Miller became a mainstay in St. Louis' rotation, recording a 3.06 ERA across 173.1 innings pitched and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. After another impressive season in 2014, where Miller started against the Giants in the NLCS, Miller was a part of a blockbuster trade that sent him to Atlanta for outfielder Jason Heyward.

Miller had a career year in 2015 with Atlanta. He earned an All-Star selection and recorded a 3.02 ERA across 205.1 innings pitched. Then, that offseason, Miller was surprisingly traded once again, this time to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Ender Inciarte and a package of prospects that included the most recent first overall pick (Dansby Swanson).

It's unclear whether Atlanta and St. Louis knew Miller's early-career success was unsustainable or not, but he imploded almost as soon as he arrived in Arizona. He posted a 6.15 ERA in 20 starts and was optioned to Triple-A while the Dbacks tried to get him back to his previous form.

SF Giants pitcher Shelby Millers throws a pitch for the Pirates.
Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports

The following year, Miller underwent season-ending UCL surgery. While he has appeared in nearly every big-league season since (he opted out in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Miller has never rekindled his early-career success. From 2018-2021, Miller appeared in 37 games combined with the Diamondbacks, Rangers, Cubs, and Pirates. He has a 9.17 ERA in 72.2 innings pitched (37 games) with 57 strikeouts and 48 walks.

This season, Miller has spent the year with the Yankees and Giants Triple-A affiliates. He has been quite effective. Miller has 12 saves and a 2.87 ERA in 43 appearances with 69 strikeouts and 21 walks in 53.1 innings pitched. Granted, his ERA has jumped to 3.62 in the hitter-friendly environments throughout the Pacific Coast League. Still, his numbers are far better than the league average.

Waites is a fireballer reliever who has skyrocketed through the Giants farm system over the past two years. An 18th-round pick out of the University of West Alabama in 2019, Waites became the first player drafted under SF Giants amateur scouting director Michael Holmes to reach the majors when he was promoted two weeks ago.

This season, Waites has 1.99 ERA in 37 appearances with 75 strikeouts in 40.2 innings pitched combined between stints at High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A. He made five appearances with the Giants and allowed just one run over 4.1 innings pitched. However, Waites struggled to limit baserunners, surrendering five hits and four walks while striking out just four. He will aim to continue improving his command back at Triple-A.


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Marc Delucchi
MARC DELUCCHI

Marc Delucchi (he/they/she) serves as the Managing Editor at Giants Baseball Insider, leading their SF Giants coverage. As a freelance journalist, he has previously covered the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and McCovey Chronicles. He also currently contributes to Niners Nation, Golden State of Mind, and Baseball Prospectus. He has previously been featured in several other publications, including SFGate, ProFootballRumors, Niners Wire, GrandStand Central, Call to the Pen, and Just Baseball. Over his journalistic career, Marc has conducted investigations into how one prep baseball player lost a college opportunity during the pandemic (Baseball Prospectus) and the rampant mistreatment of players at the University of Hawaii football program under former head coach Todd Graham (SFGate). He has also broken dozens of news stories around professional baseball, primarily around the SF Giants organization, including the draft signing of Kyle Harrison, injuries and promotions to top prospects like Heliot Ramos, and trade details in the Kris Bryant deal. Marc received a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. During his time in college, he conducted a summer research project attempting to predict the future minor-league performance of NCAA hitters, worked as a data analyst for the school's Women's basketball team, and worked as a play-by-play announcer/color commentator for the basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. He also worked as an amateur baseball scout with the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network (later renamed Evolution Metrix), scouting high school and college players for three draft cycles. For tips and inquiries, feel free to reach out to Marc directly on Twitter or via email (delucchimarc@gmail.com).