Aidan Miller hitting .500 in early AFL action

Miller struggled with a back injury in spring training and eventually had to undergo surgery back in June. He began his rehab assignment in Low-A back on September fourth and will now move up to Double-A. He’s not likely to get any MLB at-bats this season, but if he can remain healthy throughout the remainder of the minor league season, he could fight for a lineup spot in 2027.

Miller emerged as one of baseball’s best prospects last year, but his back has been a problem throughout 2026, resulting in a procedure in June. As long as things go well over the next couple of weeks, he’ll be assigned to the Arizona Fall League in order to get more at-bats,

The procedure is called a radiofrequency ablation of the facet joints, which uses controlled heat to disrupt sensory nerves that are transmitting pain signals to the inflamed spinal joints. All of that sounds rather intense, but Miller will apparently be fully shut down for just one week, then return to rehab with the goal of appearing in minor league games in 6-8 weeks.

Not good. Miller has been pulled back from swinging a bat and is back to rehabbing a lingering back issue that he’s been dealing with since spring training. There is no timetable for Philadelphia’s top prospect to return to game action. It’s starting to feel like a lost season for Miller and the lost development time certainly will adversely impact his timeline to the majors.

Miller has resumed taking swings after recurring back soreness prevented him taking part in baseball activities since late February. The 21-year-old top prospect remains without a return timeline and is far off from getting back into minor league game action. However, this latest development qualifies as a step in the right direction. The big concern is whether Miller will require surgery if he’s still experiencing back soreness when he begins ramping up his level of activity.

Miller has been cleared to begin “rotational exercises” but isn’t swinging yet. It’s a confusing situation since Phillies president Dave Dombrowski told reporters last week that Miller had resumed swinging a bat. The 21-year-old top prospect is one of the more intriguing power/speed combo shortstops in the entire minors but he’s been ostensibly on the shelf since early on in spring training due to a mysterious back issue. It doesn’t sound like he’s close to returning to game action.

Miller had been shut down due to ongoing lower back soreness that the Phillies acknowledged is an “ongoing issue.” That’s a bit worrisome for the 21-year-old prospect, but it’s nice to see that he has begun swinging a bat again. The Phillies are obviously taking things very slowly with their top prospect, but there is still some optimism that he will debut in Philadelphia at some point this season.

Miller was shut down in spring training with lower back soreness and the issue apparently hasn’t improved to the point that he can resume swinging a bat. The 21-year-old shortstop remains on the minor league injured list and doesn’t appear close to making his season debut.

He played one game for the Diamondbacks last season and wound up with the Nationals in spring training. Alcántara will probably help fill in for Aidan Miller at shortstop at Triple-A Lehigh Valley while Miller deals with a sore back that has him on the minor league injured list.

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said that Miller no longer feels any pain, so the team “will continue to increase his activities, which he’s felt good with so far.” However, given that Miller is their top prospect, they are also “going to be very careful. Any time you’re dealing with back issues, you’ve got to be careful.” This is especially true for Miller, who even had some back issues when he was drafted in the first round of the 2023 MLB Draft. Dombrowski said there is no specific timeline for Miller’s return, but it seems like the 21-year-old should be able to take the field at some point in April and then will hopefully remain healthy enough to push for a call-up later in the season.