Mason Miller

Mason James Miller
(The Reaper)

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 5", Weight 200 lb.
School Waynesburg University, Gardner-Webb University
High School Bethel Park High School
Debut April 19, 2023

Born August 24, 1998 in Pittsburgh, PA USA

Biographical Information[edit]

Pitcher Mason Miller was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 3rd round of the 2021 amateur draft, out of Gardner-Webb University where he was 8-1 as a senior after transferring from Division III Waynesburg University. He had been a middling college pitcher before being diagnosed with diabetes after an internship blood test showed his blood sugar around 700 as a sophomore. Now aware of the diagnosis, his health and weight improved and he became a serious prospect.

He made an impressive major league debut with the A's less than two years later, on April 19, 2023, hitting 100 mph on the radar gun 15 times in a 12-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs. Most of the damage came after the left the ballgame, as he allowed just 2 runs on 4 hits in 4 1/3 innings, and turned the ball over to Chad Smith with the score tied, 2-2. On May 2nd, he started against his namesake Bryce Miller of the Seattle Mariners, who was making his major league debut, and put in a bid to become the first A's starting pitcher to win a game that year. He kept the Mariners hitless through seven innings, before turning the ball over to Richard Lovelady to start the 8th; however, his opponent, the unrelated Bryce, had retired the first 16 A's batters in order before giving up a first hit, and Oakland's lead was only 1-0 when Mason left the game. Lovelady ended the no-hitter bid by surrendering a game-tying homer to A.J. Pollock with one out in the 8th, and Wilson ended up with a no-decision for his great effort as Oakland eventually lost the game, 2-1. He made 6 starts in 10 games for the A's that year, going 0-3, 3.78 with 33 strikeouts in 28 1/3 innings.

The Athletics decided to convert Miller to a closer in 2024, to take full advantage of his electric stuff. It worked beautifully as in his first ten outings of the season, he racked up 7 saves with a 1.46 ERA and 35 strikeouts (against just 4 walks) in 12 1/3 innings. The A's were playing better than they had in years, and he was their most talked-about player. He continued to pitch well in the following weeks, resulting in his being named the A's sole representative at the 2024 All-Star Game. In the game, one his pitches was recorded at 103.6 mph, the fastest pitch ever in a Midsummer Classic, and he was credited with the American League's 5-3 win when his teammates scored twice in the bottom of the inning in which he pitched. That made him just the third rookie pitcher ever to win an All-Star Game, after Spec Shea in 1947 and Dean Stone in 1954. He finished the season at 2-2, 2.49 in 55 games with 28 saves and 104 strikeouts in 65 innings. Following the season, e was named to the 2024 MLB All-Rookie Team.

In 2025, the A's moved from Oakland to a temporary home in West Sacramento, CA where they were simply known as The Athletics. While his numbers were not as outstanding as in his rookie season, he continued to pitch well, going 1-2, 3.76 in 38 games with 20 saves. He was a target of frequent speculation with the trade deadline approaching, as he was one player likely to bring back a nice return for the rebuilding Athletics, and indeed the rumors proved to be true on July 31st when he was traded to the San Diego Padres along with starting pitcher J.P. Sears in return for four prospects. Among these was SS Leo De Vries, considered the #3 prospect in baseball at the time, and Ps Braden Nett, Henry Baez and Eduarniel Nunez. On September 3rd, he pitched an immaculate inning against the Baltimore Orioles, and all nine of the pitches he threw were sliders. He was only the second player in Padres history, after Brian Lawrence in 2002, to accomplish the feat. He had no decisions and 2 saves in 22 outings for the Padres, serving as a set-up man for Robert Suárez, who led the National League in saves. His ERA of 0.77 and his 45 strikeouts in 23 1/3 innings showed how well he pitched for his new team, however. In the postseason, he continued to be dominant, pitching 2 2/3 hitless, walkless and scoreless innings during which he struck out 8 opponents as the Padres were defeated by the Chicago Cubs in the Wild Card Series.

He served as the closer for Team USA at the 2026 World Baseball Classic, recording 2 saves in 4 outings while pitching 4 scoreless innings. He tied Raidel Martínez and Taisei Ota for third in the event in saves, one behind Greg Weissert and Daniel Palencia. He did not appear in the final game which the U.S. lost to Venezuela, however, as the score was tied heading into the 9th inning and manager Mark DeRosa decided to use set-up man Garrett Whitlock in his stead, and Whitlock gave up the tournament-winning run. With Suárez having left the team in the off-season, he started the 2026 season as San Diego's new closer. The only runs he had given up in a Padres uniform until then had come in his second game after being acquired from the A's, on August 5th. As he started the 2026 season putting up goose eggs as well, the scoreless streak had reached 25 2/3 innings by April 5th, when he recorded his fourth save in four outings that season. That was just 8 innings short of the franchise record set by Cla Meredith in 2006. Of course, Miller's actual streak was even longer, as he had not allowed any runs in the postseason or the WBC either. He tied Meredith on April 23rd and passed him two days later when he got the final three outs of San Diego's 6-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú in Mexico City. The streak ended on April 27th after 34 2/3 innings when he struggled to preserve a 9th-inning four-run lead against the Chicago Cubs, allowing a pair of runs. The inning started with an unusual call, when 3B Ty France was certain that he had touched Matt Shaw's slow roller down the third base line in foul territory, but the umpires ruled it was still a fair ball. The Cubs followed with back-to-back clean singles to load the bases, and a ground out and a wild pitch accounted for the two runs. Still, he was the deserving winner of the National League's Reliever of the Month Award for April. On May 9th, he recorded what was perhaps his most complicated save of the season, as he had to bail out Adrian Morejon with two outs in the 8th after the St. Louis Cardinals had scored once in the inning to make it 3-2 and had the tying run on second base. He got Jordan Walker to ground out to end the inning, then in the 9th he both loaded the bases and recorded four strikeouts, as on the third of them Yohel Pozo reached on a dropped third strike. The other two runners had reached via walk, and JJ Wetherholt had a chance to tie the game, but he struck out as well, ending a very tense inning. The last Padres pitcher to record four strikeouts in one inning had been Mason's manager, Craig Stammen. His cloak of invincibility was finally broken on May 19th, when the Los Angeles Dodgers scored an unearned run off him, following his own error when he made a wild throw to second base in trying to catch pinch-runner Alex Call in no man's land between first and second. It was the first error of his career, and Call then scored on a sacrifice fly for a 5-4 Dodgers win, handing Miller his first loss as a member of the Padres. It was just the third run scored off him in 22 games that season. He repeated as the NL's Reliever of the Month in May as he did not allow an earned run during the month and struck out 20 opponents in 9 2/3 innings.

Notable Achievements[edit]

2024 MLB All-Rookie Team
2-time All-Star (2024 & 2026)

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Mason Miller

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