Mason James Miller (born August 24, 1998) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.

Career

Miller played for Bethel Park High School in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, while being home schooled, and played college baseball at Waynesburg University for four years until he graduated. He then played for Gardner-Webb University for his 5th year as a graduate student.^[1][2][3] As a sophomore at Waynesburg, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.^[4][5]

Miller was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the third round of the 2021 Major League Baseball draft.^[6][7] He made his professional debut that year with the Arizona Complex League Athletics. In 2022, Miller pitched in only six games between the ACL Athletics, Lansing Lugnuts and Las Vegas Aviators. After the season, he played in the Arizona Fall League.^[8]

Miller began the 2023 season with the Double-A Midland RockHounds, starting one game for the team before being moved up to Triple-A Las Vegas. After one start in Triple-A, on April 18, 2023, the Athletics announced that Miller would be promoted to the major leagues for the first time.^[9] Miller made his debut a day later, in a game against the Chicago Cubs. Miller pitched 41⁄3 innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits, a walk, and 5 strikeouts.^[10] He also became the 10th starting pitcher since the debut of Statcast to throw 15 pitches above 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).^[11] After a May 8 start against the Kansas City Royals,^[12] it was reported that Miller was dealing with elbow tightness.^[13] He was later diagnosed with a mild sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow and promptly shut down from throwing.^[14] On June 30, he was transferred to the 60-day injured list.^[15] On September 6, Miller was activated from the injured list, with manager Mark Kotsay noting that Miller would be slated for a relief role.^[16]