Mason Miller is the most recent in a protracted history of Oakland Athletics relief pitchers to be invited to the All-Star Game.
Oakland's lineage of All-Star relief pitchers is famous, including Hall of Famers Rollie Fingers and Dennis Eckersley, in addition to fan favorites akin to Grant Balfour, Sean Doolittle and Liam Hendriks.
Overall, Miller is the 14th reliever signed within the franchise's 57-year run in Oakland. The hard-throwing rookie right-hander won’t only be the last, but can also be unique amongst Oakland's all-time bullpen stars. His elite four-seam fastball is probably the greatest in MLB — by some measures, the best.
You can bet that Miller, 25, will take the mound at Globe Life Field sometime Tuesday night and wow his biggest crowd yet.
Miller has thrown the fourth-fastest pitch in the key leagues this season at 103.7 mph, trailing only legendary Pittsburgh Pirates fireball pitcher Aroldis Chapman (104, 103.8) and Los Angeles Angels rookie Ben Joyce (103.9), who broke the NCAA record with a 105.5 mph heater as a pitcher for the University of Tennessee in 2022.
But Miller's sheer volume of triple-digit fastballs is unparalleled. Through the weekend, Miller has thrown 299 pitches over 100 mph, 98 greater than the second-place player, Justin Martinez of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
But Miller is rather more than a tough pitcher. Excluding his three intentional walks, he has issued just 11 walks and 70 strikeouts in 39 2/3 innings through the weekend. Opposing teams' hitters have a batting average of just .149 against Miller, the seventh-lowest of any MLB relief pitcher.
“I feel like Mason is different than a lot of closers,” said A's starter Paul Blackburn, who represented Oakland within the 2022 All-Star Game. “A lot of guys just throw hard and sometimes have trouble with control. Mason has control over a starter's closer stuff. That's scary to see. And it's fun to watch.”
Among qualified pitchers, Miller also has the very best average fastball velocity at 100.9, nearly a mile per hour ahead of Martinez. Joyce (101.6) leads all major league pitchers with at the least 100 pitches thrown, but has not thrown enough to qualify for the league's all-time list.
“He's throwing over 100, and those are the guys you can't try too hard with, you just have to keep it simple,” Boston's Jarren Duran, who faced Miller on Wednesday, told reporters at Fenway Park. “Those are the guys you try to pull yourself together and hit a home run, they'll just tear you to shreds.”
In addition, Miller's splitter also leads the MLB with a mean velocity of 97.6. Jhoan Duran of the Minnesota Twins is in second place with 96.8.
Miller's high-speed performances will not be without risk, in fact. He suffered a sprained ulnar collateral ligament after 4 appearances in 2023 and returned to the A's in early September after missing nearly 4 months.
In 2024, Miller became a full-time reliever, and the outcomes have been outstanding. In his first 32 appearances, Miller has a 2.27 ERA, 15 saves (the A's win Friday night was just their thirty sixth of the season) and a WHIP – the common of hits and walks per nine innings – of 0.857.
“You just can't feel that kind of adrenaline,” Miller said of his role as closer. “You feel the atmosphere, the fans, the moment in the game, the situation – all of that definitely counts.”
“Being able to put everything into one at-bat — I'm not saving anything, I'm not hiding anything. I'm going to do my best from the moment I step in the box. … In that moment, it just feels like all that competitive spirit is compressed into that one at-bat, that one inning.”
When Miller was chosen for the American League All-Star team on July 7, none aside from Fingers himself had high praise for Miller's achievements that 12 months.
“He's a big kid, he throws hard, he's got pretty good feel and he's got pretty good control. I think he'll be around for a while if he stays healthy,” Fingers said on NBC Sports Bay Area. “He throws really hard. He's got nasty stuff. I don't think I want to go against him. He'll be around for a while as a closer.”
Miller got here in as Oakland's starting pitcher and went seven hitless innings in his third profession start, however it looks like he'll stick around as a reliever. Miller was named the American League's Reliever of the Month for April and is also in contention for Rookie of the Year.
He has found his role and is playing it well: the A's next great closer.
“I'm proud of the work I've done. Seeing that on the field is almost my expectation of myself,” Miller said in May. “But when I do it myself on the big stage or watch a video, there are definitely moments where I think, 'I really did that.'”
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