Bryce Miller

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Bryce Austen Miller

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Biographical Information[edit]

Pitcher Bryce Miller had a great debut for the Seattle Mariners on May 2, 2023. Starting against the Oakland Athletics, he was perfect through the first five innings - while his opponent, the unrelated Mason Miller - also kept the Mariners from getting a hit, through seven innings in case. Seattle eventually came out on top, 2-1, and Bryce finished with 10 strikeouts and no walks, only the third pitcher ever to do so in his debut, following Stephen Strasburg and Johnny Cueto. The 10 Ks were a Mariners record for most in a debut. Tony Kemp was the first batter to reach after 16 straight outs, with a one-out single in the 6th. A.J. Pollock was the first batter to get a hit for Seattle, with a solo homer off Richard Lovelady with one out in the 8th, and neither Miller figured in the decision.

Miller had breezed his way through the minor leagues, being drafted in the 4th round of the 2021 amateur draft out of Texas A&M University; three years earlier, the Miami Marlins had drafted him in the 38th round of the 2018 amateur draft, out of Blinn College, but he declined to sign, and he stayed one more season than initially planned at Texas A&M after the COVID-19 pandemic cut the 2020 college season short. He was pitching at AA with the Arkansas Travelers of the Texas League at the time of his call-up.

Bryce continued to pitch well after his excellent debut, earning his first career win with 6 scoreless innings against the Houston Astros on May 7th, and adding another 7 scoreless innings in another win on May 13th, this one over the Detroit Tigers. After three career games, his ERA was a minuscule 0.47 in 19 innings, and he had allowed just 7 hits and 1 walk while striking out 18. He had his first loss in his next start, against the Atlanta Braves, then pitched another gem on May 24th, with 6 scoreless innings in a 6-1 win over the Athletics. He finished his rookie season at 8-7, 4.32 in 25 starts, with 119 strikeouts in 131 1/3 innings. He continued to do well in 2024, as part of an outstanding starting rotation for the Mariners that was unfortunately not receiving much run support from an underperforming offence. These hitting problems led to Seattle squandering a big early-season lead over the Houston Astros, and to the firing of long-time manager Scott Servais in August. Meanwhile, Bryce was taking his turn on the mound every fifth day and had taken over a run off his rookie season's ERA. In his penultimate start on September 23rd, with the Mariners needing to win against Houston in order to stay alive in the race for the postseason, he pitched a gem, allowing no runs on just two hits over 7 innings to gain credit for a 6-1 win, his 12th of the year. The Mariners fell short of the postseason, however, and Miller finished the season at 12-8, 2.94 in 31 games, with 171 strikeouts in 181 1/3 innings.

He had a disappointing regular season in 2025, going just 4-6, 5.68 in 18 starts. He pitched only once between mid-May and mid-August, die to two stints on the injured list caused by elbow inflammation. He was back for the Mariners' successful run to a division title in September, but did not win a game all month, going 0-1, 5.61 in 5 starts. Under normal circumstances, he would have been relegated to long relied during the postseason, but due to an injury to Bryan Woo, he was asked to start Game 4 of the Division Series against the Detroit Tigers on October 8th. He pitched into the 5th inning, giving up two runs of four hits, but Seattle lost the game, 9-3, forcing the team to play a Game 5 that was went 15 innings and was very taxing on the pitching staff, with all three starters ahead of him on the depth chart seeing action. So he was basically the only pitcher available to start Game 1 of the ALCS before a raucous crowd at the Rogers Centre on October 12th. He gave up a homer to George Springer on his first pitch of the evening, but was outstanding after that, pitching one of the best games of his career as he completed six innings while giving up just one more hit. He was credited with his team's 3-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Miller's best pitch is a splitter, which can move in three different directions: straight down, towards the batter, or away from him, making it particularly difficult to adjust to.

In 2024 Miller acquired a hammerhead shark that ended up becoming the Mariners' "team shark." Its name is Chum.

Further Reading[edit]

  • David Adler: "The splitters are coming ... but this one is unique", mlb.com May 26, 2024. [1]
  • Sonja Chen: "Miller's 10-K, 0-BB debut just the 3rd in AL/NL history: No. 2 prospect carries perfect game into 6th, allows 1 run", mlb.com, May 2, 2023. [2]
  • Cole Jacobson: "Three young flamethrowers named Miller share more than a last name", mlb.com, July 8, 2024. [3]
  • Daniel Kramer: "Miller's masterpiece keeps Mariners alive in AL West, within 1.5 of Wild Card", mlb.com, September 24, 2024. [4]
  • Daniel Kramer: "Working on short rest, Miller delivers gem in Game 1", mlb.com, October 13, 2025. [5]
  • James Schapiro: "Miller continues historic start to career, lowers ERA to 0.47", mlb.com, May 13, 2023. [6]

Related Sites[edit]

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