The A’s are receiving early trade calls on closer Mason Miller, writes Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. While the team is at least broadly open to discussions, Rosenthal reports that no one has come close to what is understandably a huge ask.
Miller has been one of the league’s breakout players in 2024. It certainly didn’t come out of nowhere — he has been widely regarded as a Top 100 prospect in each of the last two years — but the second-year righty is already one of the best relievers in the game. Miller gave up two runs in his first appearance of the season against the Guardians. He hasn’t been scored on in 12 games since, and that understates his dominance.
The 25-year-old has recorded multiple strikeouts in all but two of his outings. He has fanned 33 of the 60 batters who have stepped in against him. That’s a laughable 55% rate. Among pitchers with at least 10 innings, Cincinnati’s Fernando Cruz ranks second with a 47.3% strikeout percentage. Only four qualified relievers — Devin Williams (during the abbreviated 2020 schedule), Aroldis Chapman (2014), Craig Kimbrel (2012) and Edwin Díaz (2022) — have ever maintained a strikeout rate north of 50% over a full season. Miller has induced swinging strikes on more than 21% of his pitches, a mark only narrowly topped by Cruz. He has paired that overwhelming stuff with strong control, issuing just four walks without hitting a batter.
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It’s not difficult to understand why opponents haven’t had any success making contact. Miller’s stuff is off the charts. His fastball is averaging 100.8 MPH and can run into the 103-104 MPH range at its high end. He has paired it with an upper-80s slider that drew plus or better reviews from prospect evaluators and has been nearly unhittable. Opponents are coming up empty almost half the time they swing at both offerings.
Every bullpen would be massively upgraded with Miller at the back end. It’s entirely unsurprising that teams would look to pry him from Oakland and that the A’s would need a massive haul to consider it. On top of Miller’s dominance, he’s under affordable club control for years to come. He entered 2024 with less than one season of MLB service. He’s not on track to reach free agency until the end of the 2029 campaign. Miller is a lock to go through arbitration four times as a Super Two player, but that won’t begin until after next season.
The A’s are still deep into a rebuild…
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