Less than eight months after the Arizona Diamondbacks traded Aaron Blair, Ender Inciarte , and minor leaguer Dansby Swanson to the Atlanta Braves for Shelby Miller and minor leaguer Gabe Speler. Shelby Miller haa a record of 6-17 with a 3.20 ERA in his one year of service in Atlanta.
Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan has reported that the Diamondbacks are now telling teams that Shelby Miller is available. To no one’s surprise, the Diamondbacks’ asking price for the 25-year-old Miller is not as high as the cost they paid for him.
From 2013-2015, while Shelby Miller was a pitcher for both the St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves, he was a quality option for both teams. In those two years, he had a combined record to post a 3.27 ERA, 7.48 K/9, 3.25 BB/9, and 42.3 % ground-ball rate over 561 2/3 innings. Because of that constant effectiveness, the Atlanta Braves first deemed him worthy enough that they would be willing to trade outfielder Jason Heyward in December 2014. Then, the Diamondbacks thought he was good enough that they would trade Swanson, Inciarte and Blair a year later.
While the Diamondbacks figured they were landing an in-his-prime, top- of- the rotation starter, their decision to trade Swanson (#1 pick in last year’s draft), a solid center fielder in Inciarte and Blair ( a 2014 1st round pick) for Miller was not taken well. No one expected Miller to experience such a fall from grace, though, as the Diamondbacks optioned Miller to Triple- A on July 14 after he had a scary 69 1/3 innings in the major.
In his first and probably only season in Arizona, Miller has had an ugly 7.14 ERA. A lousy 6.49 K/9 and a 4.41 BB/9, not to mention he has also dipped in velocity which has contributed to his recent struggles. He also has missed some time due to a finger injury he had earlier this season.