Shelby Miller, the Cardinals’ No. 1 pitching prospect, had more on his mind last week than getting ready to pitch in Sunday’s All-Star Futures Game. His father was a fellow firefighter and a good friend of Shannon Stone, who passed away Thursday night after tumbling over a railing at Rangers Ballpark, and he got the news after Thursday’s game.
“He was an awesome guy,” Miller said. “He was at my game in Frisco and just really a good person.
“Having it happen to him is just tough.”
Mitch Miller and Stone worked together for more than a decade in Brownwood, Texas, and Shelby said both of his parents would attend Monday’s funeral.
“I can’t weep over it or do anything that’s going to keep me from performing well or something like that,” he said after pitching Sunday night. “It’s definitely in the back of your mind. You think about it, and then you get down, and then you just try to forget about it and it’s not easy. It’s something I’m going to have to get through, me and my family are going to have to get through and the Stones are going to have to get through.”
