Bobby Miller in concussion protocol after scary moment
He got hit in the head
Spring training got off to a scary start on Thursday, as Bobby Miller took a 106-mph line drive off the head. He was down on the ground briefly before being examined by the training staff. As expected, he was immediately removed from the game.
Hours later while speaking with reporters, Dave Roberts said that Miller was in the concussion protocol, something you don’t hear too often in MLB.
Miller posted a positive update on Twitter last night.
We got an update this morning from Roberts, saying Miller is going to be okay.
According to Roberts, Miller didn’t have a fracture. He had a bit of a headache but apparently slept just fine last night. There’s no timetable as to when we can see Miller return to the mound, but Roberts did say the hope is he’ll start throwing soon.
Obviously you never want to see anyone go through something this traumatic, but it definitely feels worse that it had to be Miller. After a disastrous 2024 season, Miller entered camp battling for the fifth and final spot in the starting rotation. A year after being arguably the worst starter in baseball, Miller was hoping to bounce back and prove he’s worthy of being an MLB caliber starting pitcher.
Miller followed Yamamoto in the third inning, his first outing of the spring. He walked the first batter he faced. Then on his 11th pitch of the game, Michael Busch scorched one 106 mph off the bat and struck Miller.
It wasn’t like Miller at least had 30-40 pitches under his belt, he was only on his second hitter.
If I were to guess, this completely eliminates Miller from contention of being LA’s No. 5 starter. He’s going to miss at least a week, most likely more. With Opening Day five weeks away, it’s tough to see Miller getting enough reps to warrant him getting that spot.
As of now, it looks like the fifth spot in the rotation will be between Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May.
While this certainly sucks for Miller, it could have been a lot worse. If he’s able to walk away from this with just a bad headache and a big bruise, that’ll be a major win for him and the Dodgers.