Bobby Miller (shoulder) makes season debut at AAA

Another bad surprise here. The Dodgers didn’t admit that anything was wrong with Miller initially this spring, and by the time they revealed he experienced shoulder soreness, he was already back throwing off a mound. If Miller is able to contribute this year, it will be as a reliever.

It was only about 10 pitches for Miller, who has been fighting a shoulder issue. The Dodgers intend to keep Miller in the bullpen this season after he finished last year there in the minors, and he’ll either open up on the IL or in Triple-A.

The Dodgers figure to add a couple experienced bullpen arms at the trade deadline, but their recent avalanche of injuries has forced them to move Miller to a relief role as a potential in-house alternative. The 26-year-old former top prospect continues to battle control issues at the Triple-A level, but his stuff figures to play up in shorter bursts out of the bullpen. He’s highly unlikely to make a fantasy impact in the near future, but we’ve seen countless examples of failed starters turning into quality relievers in the past.

The 26-year-old hurler was called up from Triple-A on Saturday to add a fresh arm to the bullpen and he gave up one run on two hits over his two innings of work against the Mets. He’ll return to the rotation at Triple-A Oklahoma City where he’ll stay ready until the Dodgers’ need him again. Chris Stratton was added to the roster in a corresponding move on Sunday.

Miller is up to give the Dodgers a potential multi-inning option after their 13-inning game against the Mets on Saturday. The Dodgers optioned Matt Sauer to make room for Miller on the roster.

Miller heads to Citi Field as extra long relief depth behind starter Tony Gonsolin after the Dodgers burned through nearly their entire bullpen during Friday’s 13-inning marathon in New York. The hard-throwing 26-year-old righty has become the modern-era’s equivalent of Michael Pineda in the sense that he experienced immediate success at the highest level as a rookie back in 2023, but has struggled to regain that form ever since. He’s made one appearance this season for Los Angeles and holds a pedestrian 4.63 ERA at the Triple-A level.

He struck out seven and walked four on the day, so the command is still something he needs to work on. He has 29 walks to 31 strikeouts in 35 innings at Triple-A this season while posting a 4.63 ERA. He’s still a long way from pushing his way back into the Dodgers’ rotation, but this is just a reminder that the 26-year-old remains talented.

Miller has a 3.86 ERA for Oklahoma City, but it comes with 22 walks and 15 strikeouts in 21 innings. It’s the opposite of the issue he had in his one major league start last month, when he posted a 7/1 K/BB in three innings but gave up eight hits and six runs anyway. Unfortunately, any hopes of him putting things back together right away this year have been dashed.

Miller was going to head back to Oklahoma City even if he pitched well Wednesday, but it’s worth noting that the 26-year-old scuffled while allowing six runs in his start against the Rockies. The right-hander will likely get back at some point with Los Angeles in coming weeks/months, but for now he’ll head back to OKC with a corresponding move to be announced Friday.

Miller was making his first start of the 2025 season, and it’s hard to fathom it went how he wanted it to. Fortunately for him and the fantasy managers who streamed him against the lowly Rockies, he received seven runs of support while he was in, so he wasn’t charged with a loss. He did strike out seven, but he allowed eight hits as well, with two of those hits leaving the ballpark. The biggest blow was a grand slam by Michael Toglia, but he pitched shakily — to put it nicely — for most of the contest. There’s no start scheduled, but if Miller does get another outing, it’ll likely come against the Cubs on Wednesday.