There is no other way to say it, but to just say that Bobby Miller needs to be… has to be in the Dodgers rotation THIS year. I know that Andrew Friedman is committed to Andrew Heaney and that Bobby will go back to OKC for a few weeks, but it won’t be long. The kid is ready. I remember back to when I first saw Clayton Kershaw. His stuff was so electric that it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up! Bobby Miller impressed me even more. Let me say that again: I was more impressed with Bobby Miller when I saw him the first time than I was when I saw Clayton Kershaw the first time. OK, I will admit that Clayton was 19 when I first really saw him and Bobby Miller is 23, which is all the more reason for him to be pitching in LA and not OKC!
Bobby Miller’s pitches just sound different. If you are sitting and not really watching him, the sound of his pitches will make your head turn – “WHHHAAATTTT?” He throws effortlessly and the ball just explodes. He has four pitches and he “pinpoint” control. He is 6′ 5″ and 235 pounds, calm, collected, intimidating, and totally in control on that mound. You can see he is a fierce competitor and that look in his eyes is one of “steely resolve.” The downside is that he should probably not pitch more than 130 to 140 innings this year… because… well… he never has done it.
Now you should understand why Andrew Friedman did not want to block Bobby Miller. Odds are, one of Tony Gonsolin or Andrew Heaney will not pan out in the next month… or maybe there will be another injury. Rest assured, by May or June, it will be Miller Time!
OKC Dodgers Win Opener in Grand Fashion
Ryan Pepiot was dominant over four innings, showing why he is so highly regarded. 49 pitches in 4 innings. He did walk 2 but gave up just one hit. The hitters had no chance. Carson Fulmer pitched two shutout innings and Darien Nunez struck out 3 in his 2 innings pitched. In the bottom of the 9th Jason Martin hit a walk-off HR for the 3-2 win. Nunez got the win and Pepiot, Fulmer, and Nunez all looked unhittable… at least for a night.
Discussion (18)
Disagree, not disagreeable
MLC. com reports that Miller will start at Tulsa, not OKC. Might be a reflection of his limited pro experience. Will the Dodgers insist on time at OKC before bringing him up? A lot could be due to injuries.
I assume the $$$ AF invested in Heaney and Anderson will give them a chance to prove themselves. But yeah, Miller looks like the real deal.
Someone was asking about the emergency catcher. It is none other than Hanser Alberto according to Dodgers Nation.
Padres and Minnesota working on a trade that would send Paddack to the Twins for closer, Taylor Rogers to the Pads. But it is believed there are more than just those two players being discussed. Padres still trying to unload Hosmer. This report was on MLBTR.
Carson Fulmer had a nice 2ip for OKC last night.
I didn’t watch, so I don’t know how good he looked, but this is a good reliever to watch for when someone needs to come up and help the bullpen
LOL – Padres just traded Darvish’s personal catcher, Víctor Caratini to the Brewers for minor leaguers. Darvish isn’t good enough to have a personal catcher.
I wouldnt be surprised to see one of the relievers “injured” when they return to Dodger stadium and a position player brought up
Lots of last minute roster moves happening. Some non roster players making other teams. I do not like them carrying 16 pitchers. I think that is way too many. But, AF and Dave seem to think they are going to need them.
The team formerly known as the Indians locked up Jose Ramirez for 5 years, just shy of $25M per year. Good to see that team able to keep one of their stars.
FWIW Miller is on the Tulsa roster for now … speaks to how loaded the Dodgers organization is at pitching.
The three highlights of our spring training 2022. 1. Bobby Miller 2. Bobby Miller 3. Nobody got injured
BTW – neat old Miller commercial. That was back in a time where blue collar workers and an honest living were held in higher esteem then they are now.
Personally, the Uecker commercials were my favorites.
https://youtu.be/Huu0Dfh9WIQ
Most fun for me was watching his parents reactions. His dad looked like he was going to have a heart attack. His mom was more composed. But when he struck out Ohtani, you might have thought it was the third out of game 7 of the World Series, dad was high fiving everyone! Pretty cool. The kid was very impressive, He was also very intense.
Miller said that he was hyped and did not have good command of his secondary pitches last night.
I presume that is correct because he has walked 13 while striking out 70 last year in the minors.
The thing is: he was off, but it wasn’t off by much. He was always around the Zone.
His stuff is just plain outtathisworld.
If he had his good stuff, you would have been planning my funeral today… It would have been the Big One!
I’m going to be one of those people who’s gonna rain on the Miller Time Parade just a little.
Yes, his fastball was really impressive. I’m not sure that it was going exactly where he wanted it to, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, and besides, the hitters didn’t either, and it showed. They looked overwhelmed.
I was less impressed with his secondary pitches. He threw the slider more than the curveball, but he didn’t have very good command of it at all. In the abbreviated highlights I watched, I saw him throw one curveball that missed badly.
To me, it looked like he was over reliant on his triple digit fastball. To be a pitcher and not a thrower he’s going to have to refine his secondary pitches and learn to sequence through them. According to scouting reports, he can hold velocity deep into games, but that matters less if batters learn to time his fastball.
Well, to say that was impressive was an understatement. Bobby Miller sure looks like the real deal. The way he throws those darts is so effortless. That fastball looks so heavy, it was tough to square it up. He alluded to his secondary pitches not being that sharp and he still dominated. I guess he just needs to work on offspeed pitches. I’m not sure why they’re calling him a mid rotation starter, he certainly looks to have Ace stuff. He looked like he could have easily kept throwing for a few more innings. The word is that there’s some concern that he doesn’t get more whiffs on the fastball.
The bullpen pieces used last night looked as good as it gets as well. Kahnle really stood out to me. He looked like he was throwing wiffle balls with all that movement.
Watching Kimbrel made me feel really good about letting Kenley walk. Kimbrel just goes right after guys. No worrying if the cutter had the right action, no worrying about 89-91 on his first 5 or 6 pitches. No nibbling. One of his curveballs really stood out to me. It came in right above the knees then dived into the dirt. Wicked!
I was listening to a prospect report yesterday the guy from future Dodgers. He was extremely high on Bruns and Nastrini. Both are really turning heads in camp and look like steals. They seem to have the same pitch mix featuring high nineties fastballs, two distinct breaking balls and a change. Both are rated as top of the rotation guys. Both have had command/control issues and if they get that “under control” they’re going to be blue chippers.
This organization is loaded with pitching.
Alright, two days off and then it’s showtime. Are we ready?
Betts woke up a little last night, but he doesn’t look like he’s in go mode.
Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman look ready right now. Thank God they signed Freddie who looks very happy to be here and comfortable.
Alberto and Lux in a platoon at second should be good enough. Their defence certainly looks good and they run into enough balls at the back end on the lineup to contribute. Lux hasn’t made a bad throw since Mark called him out.
Muncy ran into one last night and struck out a couple of times. I’m a little concerned, but he’s looked pretty bad in the early going in the past. Is he fully healthy? Did he lose some power while recovering?
JT looks doesn’t look too good right now. Is this the beginning of the end? We’re going to really miss the right handed bat if it is. At least they have Rios and Lamb waiting in the wings.
Smith and Barnes haven’t warmed up too much. They’ll be fine eventually, but in the early going we need to get some production there.
Belli is at least starting to make some contact. It’s a low bar here. At least his defense is superb.
Taylor looks like Taylor. He’s gonna K a lot and he’ll come up with a lot of big hits. He looks like himself and is ready to go.
Kahnle and Bickford look fine. I think it’s a mistake starting the season without them.
Vesia finally pitched a clean inning. We’re going to need him early on.
Graterol looks great even if he isn’t racking up K’s.
Treinen and Kimbrel at the end of the game is as good as it gets. This bullpen is going to be ridiculously good this year especially when Kahnle comes back. I don’t see anyone that has so many legit pitchers with V-Gone, Graterol, Kahnle, Treinen, Hudson and Kimbrel. Phillips, White, Vesia, Bickford, Ferguson, Bruihl. Wow, the list seems endless. It looks like we have two full bullpens.
I honestly can’t remember such a deep pitching staff top to bottom.
Too bad we have to start the season on the road in Colorado, then Minnesota? The we come home to face the Reds and Braves? Who the hell made this schedule?
Please let me know why Lux looks at so many strikes?
Almost half of Miller’s 55 pitches were four-seam fastballs, averaging 99.4 mph. Seven hit triple digits on the radar gun, including three fastballs to Shohei Ohtani looking in the first inning.
I know what you mean when you say it SOUNDED different.
A few years back I watched and LISTENED Yadier Alvarez throw at ST . That too was amazing. His pitches just sounded harder than everyone elses.
Kid had so much talent and it is a shame his mental makeup was not up to his physical tools though I have read he is giving it another shot at AA Tulsa .
Bobby Miller might just be the NEXT BIG Dodgers pitching star. Hope he stays healthy and we see him soon making his big league debut.
With him, Buehler and May when he is fully back we would have 3 hard throwing RHP for our rotation for years to come.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!