Adam Miller may be the highlight of Cleveland Indians' surprising season: Terry Pluto
Published: Friday, July 15, 2011, 12:15 AM Updated: Friday, July 15, 2011, 12:15 AM
Adam Miller shows you The Finger.
It's the right middle finger, the one that has been through four surgeries.
"It doesn't hurt at all," he says. "It feels great."
You are sitting with Miller in the dugout at Canal Park, about two hours before the Class AA Akron Aeros will play a game. You can't help but stare at the finger, because it doesn't look much like a finger at all.
It's more like a bent fishhook. It leans slightly to the right. The top joint, the one with the fingernail, is at a 45-degree angle.
You look at the finger and shake your head. You keep wondering, how can Miller even hold a baseball.
"No problem," he says.
Then he jams the ball into his hand, and the finger curls around the ball.
Miller has pitched in 13 games for Akron. He has a 3.18 ERA, allowing 16 hits and striking out 12 in 17 innings. His fastball is in the 92-94 mph range, and has been clocked as high as 96. He throws a slider, which is a bit erratic. That's where the finger is still a problem, as Miller is still working on his control with that pitch.
But the fact you are talking sliders and radar gun readings with Miller is remarkable.
As Tribe General Manager Chris Antonetti says about the odds of Miller coming back from his injuries, there are no odds.
"He is the only professional pitcher that has ever returned from multiple surgeries on the pulley system and ligaments in his pitching hand," says Antonetti. "We are elated that he is back pitching."
PHENOM
Miller was a first-round pick by the Tribe in 2003.
By the time he was 19, Miller was 10-6 with a 2.88 ERA in Class A. He fanned 146 batters in 143 innings, and had a fastball clocked at 100 mph.
"He was throwing 94 when we signed him," Tribe Minor League Director Ross Atkins tells you. "Soon, he was at 96-97, and he really did hit a 100 a few times."
He also injured his elbow and threw only 70 innings in 2005.
But in 2006, he was healthy again and one of baseball's premier prospects after a 15-6 record with a 2.75 ERA at Class AA Akron.
He was only 21.
"That was five years ago, the last time that I was here," says Miller, shaking his head as he looks around Canal Park. "That almost feels like another life."
Miller was a star in the Tribe 2007 training camp. The only reason he didn't come to Cleveland was that he had never pitched at Class AAA and he was only 22. The Indians thought he could be in the majors by June.
"I don't think about it much," he says. But he admits that once in a while, he thinks, "Man, I could have been there."
Then came the first finger injury early in his 2007 season at Buffalo, N.Y.
It started with a blister, some pain . . . nothing that seemed serious.
It was more than serious. It was career-threatening, life-changing.
RELENTLESS
Once upon a time, it all came so easy for Miller, even the comeback from the elbow surgery. But from 2008 to '10, he would pitch only 28 innings -- none at all in 2009 and 2010.
All because of the finger.
Miller points to a spot on his left calf muscle.
That's where doctors took out a ligament for one of the finger surgeries.
He points to a spot on his left wrist another ligament, another surgery.
So holding together his right middle finger are ligaments from his left wrist and left leg.
It was a complicated process that included not one . . . not two . . . but three surgeries in 2009, the most recent in December.
"I always believed I'd pitch again," Miller tells you. "But I didn't know how well."
He knew some people believed he was wasting time, that his sometimes solitary comeback quest was doomed. How many surgeries would it take for the message to be understood?
"I couldn't worry much about what others thought," he says. I just knew that I wasn't ready to give it up."
Not at age 26. Not after eight years of pro ball and countless trips to doctors' offices and trainers' rooms.
TENACIOUS
Former Tribe third baseman Travis Fryman was in Akron recently. Now the Tribe's minor-league infield coordinator, he has watched Miller pitch a few times.
"He still has a great arm and his fastball has some life," Fryman tells you. "Few guys have his tenacity. Few can keep chasing it like Adam. I'm not counting him out. He's thrown some filthy fastballs." Then Fryman tells you about watching Miller at the Tribe's spring complex in Arizona going through one rehabilitation after another. Much of it was done by himself, or with a trainer. It was a big deal just to play catch.
Players would come to Goodyear after knee and other surgeries. They'd recover, go back to their teams and play.
Not Miller.
For two years, he never made it to the mound. Not once in 2009. Not once in 2010.
Fryman sounds awestruck as he talks about Miller's dedication, his upbeat attitude, his willingness to keep climbing a mountain.
"I respect perseverance," says Fryman. "It's one of the best things you can have."
Most former No. 1 picks who become millionaires before they throw their first professional pitch don't have the grit to put so much into a career when there seems to be so few results. Miller admits that there were times when he was scared to even look at the finger after some of the surgeries.
Now, he looks at the finger and almost seems amused by it.
He's never seen anyone with a finger quite like it.
But somehow, this crazy finger held together by ligaments from his wrist and leg . . . maybe, just maybe, this thing is going to work.
LOVE OF THE GAME
Atkins' voice breaks a bit with emotion when he talks about Miller.
"He's a purist", Atkins tells you. "Some players love to play, but they don't love the game. They don't watch it a lot. Adam loves it. He watches games on TV. He loves being around guys in the clubhouse. He loves to learn about the game."
That's why he's never thought about quitting, not once. After the 2010 season, Miller climbed the mountain that had become the pitchers mound for an inning in an Instructional League game.
"It was awesome," he says. "Just being back out there . . ."
He threw one inning, 12 pitches. He gave up a hit, struck out a batter, and allowed no runs.
"That's when I started to think something like this could happen," he said.
He meant taking it slow in spring training, going to Class A to start the season and be in Akron by the All-Star break. There is no more talk of him being an ace, or even a starter.
But one inning at a time bringing heat from the bullpen?
Why not?
If he continues to pitch well, the next step this summer could be Class AAA Columbus. And yes, there's always room in a major-league bullpen for a guy who can throw in the mid 90s.
There will always be at least a caution flag next to any evaluation of Miller. Before the finger problems, there was an elbow injury.
"Provided he stays healthy, Adam has the stuff, the mentality and the toughness to pitch meaningful innings in the major leagues," says Antonetti. "Nobody would deserve to make it more than he does."
