Should the Dodgers consider moving Bobby Miller to the bullpen?
He's been historically bad as a starting pitcher
In 2024, Bobby Miller had one of the worst seasons we’ve seen from a starting pitcher in recent memory. In 13 starts, Miller posted a 8.52 ERA. After a dominant rookie season in 2023, Miller’s stock had plummeted to an all-time low.
He began 2025 in Oklahoma City. With a crowded starting rotation, there was simply no room for him with the big league club. With a long season ahead and starts needed from the minors, we all knew we’d see Miller sooner rather than later. When those injuries came, Landon Knack and Justin Wrobleski each got the call before Miller did. After both players struggled, the Dodgers turned to Miller for the first time of the season.
With reinforcements on the way for LA’s rotation, Wednesday night was a chance for Miller to show that 2024 was just a fluke and he was worthy of having a spot in LA’s rotation moving forward.
Yeah, I’m not sure if that second opportunity will be coming.
Wednesday night was a repeat of Miller’s terrible 2024 campaign. In only three innings of work, he allowed six runs on eight hits. Five of those runs came in the third inning. Four courtesy of a grand slam and then another from a solo homer.
Despite seven of his nine outs coming via the strikeout, Colorado was having batting practice against him.
Dating back to last season, Miller has a 10.03 ERA over his last 13 starts. If that seems bad, well it is. Miller’s ERA is the worst 13-game stretch by a starter in Dodgers history. This isn’t just a bad stretch, we’re talking about a historically bad one.
Obviously we’re still so early in his career, but has the time of him being a starter come to an end? Should the Dodgers seriously consider converting Miller to become a reliever?
To start things off, I don’t think the Dodgers plan on doing that. Miller was drafted to be a starter. He was a Top 100 prospect because he was a starter. He’s gotten opportunities the last three seasons because he’s a starter.
Does he have a future in Major League Baseball if he continues to be a starter? He very well could, but I don’t see that coming with the Dodgers.
Miller was already the third option on the depth chart with a number of injuries. Blake Snell will be back soon. Tony Gonsolin will be back soon. Clayton Kershaw will be back next month. Shohei Ohtani will be back around the All-Star break. Unless the entire six-man rotation gets hurt, Miller will likely not make another start for the Dodgers in 2025.
I don’t know how the rotation will look in 2026, but it will be pretty crowded once again. You’ll have all the usual suspects returning, not to mention guys like Emmett Sheehan, River Ryan, Gavin Stone and Kyle Hurt will be healthy and ready to go as well.
I don’t see how Miller has a future with the Dodgers as a starter. He could have a future as a starter with another team, but who is going to be trading for him? Maybe if Miller is included as the third or fourth piece in a bigger deal. Or maybe a team out there truly believes they can fix him.
For the Dodgers, Miller simply has no role as a starter with this team moving forward. So, with that being said, why not try him out as a reliever and see if that works?
As we saw last night, Miller has the stuff to be dominant. I mean, he struck out seven in only three innings. Clearly something was working. By something, I mean everything other than his four-seamer.
Despite being able to throw it nearly 100-mph, Miller’s fastball is terrible. It was evident last night and it’s been evident throughout his entire career. He got 14 swings on that pitch last night, generating only one whiff. The Rockies went 3-for-5 against that pitch.
In 2024, opponents hit .348 on his fastball. In 2023, back when Miller had a fantastic rookie campaign, opponents still hit .267 on the pitch with a .400 slugging percentage.
His four-seamer is not MLB caliber and it needs to go away. If Miller removes that pitch from his arsenal, things will get a lot better for him. His changeup is really good. As you saw last night, his curveball can be really good. If he can improve on his sinker or add another pitch, there is a chance that Miller can dominate.
When looking at the whiff percentages on all of his pitches throughout his career, it’s evident that the chance for dominance is there. His changeup had a whiff percentage of 41 in 2024, the highest of any pitch in his career. In 2023, his changeup was at 40 percent.
His curveball had a 36.6 whiff percentage last night, with a 36 percentage in 2023. His slider was just under 30 percent in 2023 and was 27.5 percent in 2024.
To put into perspective how bad his four-seamer is, the whiff percentage has dropped every year on the pitch, going from 19.8%, to 16.8% to 10.5%, which is what it was last night.
Again, remove that pitch from his arsenal and he might just dominate.
I know it seems far-fetched, but this truly seems like the best path towards success for Miller. What is the point of keeping him as a starter if he has no future with the team? At least as a reliever, there would be the chance of success either later this year or maybe in 2026 and beyond.
You can experiment with it in Triple-A and see if it works out. If he can’t develop another pitch or if it simply doesn’t pan out for him, well at least you tried. See what happens if he stops throwing the 4-seamer. That should at least be the first step.
We’ve all seen it first-hand. Miller has the stuff to dominate. He did it in 2023 and in his first start of 2024. I don’t know what has gone wrong since. I’d hate for his career to flame out when the potential is still sky-high.
With three great pitches, maybe a fourth, there’s a chance Miller could thrive as a reliever. We’ve seen starters transition to relievers in the past and succeed. I know this wasn’t with the Dodgers, but years ago Blake Treinen debuted as a reliever. Obviously I’m not saying Miller will become Treinen, but the path is possible.
Who knows, maybe he’ll prove me wrong and get another opportunity as a starter and dominate. At this rate, the odds of that happening just seem to be extremely slim.
Given our injury history with starters and his freak injury in spring, it seems like he is worth trying to continue developing for now. But you make a compelling case!