Meet The New Guys: Justin Miller

Justin Miller is a 32 year old right handed reliever who was signed to a one year minor league deal with a spring training invite. Although not a huge piece for the bullpen, Miller will be competing for one of the last bullpen spots, and in a worst case scenario will be used as bullpen depth in the minor leagues.

Miller — a 2008 draftee — debuted in 2014 with the Detroit Tigers, and has since taken up a journeyman role, playing with three teams over his five major league seasons. Most recently Miller found himself in the bullpen of the Washington Nationals, whom he was a member of in the 2018 and 2019 season. Unfortunately he was not a member of the 2019 championship team, but will likely receive a ring for being a contributor during the regular season.

In 2019 Miller pitched to a 4.02 ERA over 15.2 innings (17 games), which are solid numbers over a small sample size. 2018 is a better measure for Miller, as he logged 52.1 innings over 51 games as a fixture in the Nationals bullpen. During that stretch he managed to pitch for an ERA of 3.61 with a WHIP of 1.127. Alongside these stats, Miller also punched out hitters at a career high rate of 10.3 K/9. Toronto would easily find room for Miller in a full time spot if he puts up numbers like this in 2020.

Before spring training was cut short, Miller was making a serious case for a bullpen spot, compiling a strong 1.50 ERA with 6 strikeouts and only 1 walk in 6.0 innings. If he manages to continue this hot streak into camp when play resumes, then it should come as no surprise to see him on the opening day roster. He is likely to play an important role as one of the few vets on the team, and in a position when the Jays find themselves at their thinnest point. Although he isn’t going to blow batters away, he can be a consistent and reliable arm coming out of the bullpen, which is all that the team needs from him right now.