FINAL GRADES: Bryce Miller's Elite Second Season Elevated Him to an Elite Tier
The Seattle Mariners starting rotation has received heaps of praise over the last year.
It's arguably the best staff in baseball and has a healthy balance of veterans and young starters that are all under team control for the next several years.
Two members of the Seattle rotation pitched their second major league seasons in 2024 and had phenomenal years.
One was Bryan Woo and the other was Bryce Miller. The latter of the two might have had a good enough year to be considered an elite starting pitcher not just on the Mariners but in the entire MLB.
And that might be enough to help Miller become the No. 2 starter in the Pacific Northwest for the foreseeable future.
Bryce Miller by the numbers
Games started: 31
Pitching stats: 2.94 ERA, 31 appearances (31 starts), 12-8 record, 180.1 innings pitched, 171 strikeouts, 0.98 WHIP, 18 QS, .200 opp. BA, 3.4 WAR
Advanced pitching stats: 3.72 xERA, .233 xBA, 27% Chase, 24.3% Whiff, 3.58 FIP, 8.53 K/9, 78.2% LOB
What I liked
Miller was essentially a human sponge. On top of his own arsenal, he's learned and taken a little bit from every single other starter in the rotation.
And what's more impressive is the fact Miller has implemented all of those additions to his arsenal to great success. So much so that Seattle's de facto ace Logan Gilbert things there might be a Midsummer Classic in the Texas A&M product's future.
"Bryce has joked that he kind of just steals my pitches — things that I try," Gilbert said on July 21. "So I can definitely see him being next (to make the All-Star Game). Him and Woo, too. Both super talented and they'll play for long enough that they'll definitely make it."
Miller has a seven-pitch selection of a four-seamer, splitter, sinker, slider, sweeper, knuckle curve and a cutter. He didn't allow over a .250 batting average on any of his pitches.
Bryce Miller, 87mph Splitter (ball) and 96mph Two Seamer (backwards K), Individual Pitches + Overlay pic.twitter.com/VAhjU7KWul
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 19, 2024
Miller's improve his ERA by 1.38 from 2023 to 2024. And having that many pitches in just two seasons is incredible.
The fact that Miller is that effect and still has room to improve with several pitches is a good sign for the future.
Best game
Miller led the MLB in starts of six or more shutout innings. So there's a lot of different ways to go when determining Miller's best game.
Which makes it unfortunate that his best start was in a loss.
On Aug. 15 in a 2-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers, Miller pitched seven shutout innings. He allowed just two hits and no free bases while walking striking out nine batters.
Bryce Miller, K'ing the Side in the 4th. pic.twitter.com/ahpjzPXsX8
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 15, 2024
Miller's outing followed an unfortunate pattern of the bullpen wasting a quality start. But it was arguably the best he's looked all season. And it was a form he replicated several times in the second half of the year.
Future prospects
Miller had the best numbers on the Mariners stats this season and was one of the best pitchers in the league during the second half of the season. And he's not even up for pre-arbitration until 2026.
Miller's arsenal and effectiveness will likely lead to him being the No. 2 starter for Seattle in 2025. But that's assuming he's still on the team in 2025.
Mariners President of Business Operations Jerry Dipoto referred to trading a starting pitcher as "plan z" in the order of ways the team plans to improve in the offseason. But he said that with the caveat that the team is prepared to make any deal if they feel like it's the right one.
And according to a recent article from the Seattle Times' Adam Jude, Miller is the "most likely" of the five to get traded according to one anonymous National League scout.
And on the surface, that makes sense. Any team that has Miller will have a potential All-Star that will be under team control for at least four more years. And that's without a contract extension.
But if Seattle goes another way and trades ace Gilbert, that could open the door to Miller taking over as the No. 1 starter in the rotation. Miller clearly has the potential to be an ace. But with just one elite year under his belt and just two major league seasons in general, that might not be a move the team is ready to make. At least not yet.
But that's all based on the scenario the team moves a hurler. The most likely scenario is that all five starters return and Gilbert and Miller are one of the best one-two punches in the entire league.
Final grade: A
A: Miller's elite 2024 earns him the third "A" in our final rankings.
Honestly there's an argument to be made that he should be an "A-plus". But a slow start to the first half of the season (5.22 ERA in May, 4.68 ERA in June) stops him from getting the highest mark.
Miller's rise rise in July helped make up for losing Woo to the injured list in July and he only continued to get better as the season progressed.
There's seldom few pitchers that had a better second-half than the Texas native and a good few of the hurlers that did were Cy Young candidates.
The encore in 2025 should be just as good, if not better.
Related Stories on Seattle Mariners
FINAL GRADES ON LUIS CASTILLO: Although three-time All-Star hurler Luis Castillo didn't always look like the Seattle Mariners No. 1 starter, his ability and veteran presence still provided a huge boost to the team. CLICK HERE
FINAL GRADES ON GEORGE KIRBY: The Seattle Mariners starting rotation was bolstered by the elite command displayed by George Kirby, who had one of the most impressive streaks of the season in 2024. CLICK HERE
FINAL GRADES ON BRYAN WOO: Bryan Woo's growth was a massive factor in the Seattle Mariners having the best starting rotation in baseball this season. CLICK HERE
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