Philadelphia Phillies: Why the lack of playing time for Brad Miller?

When the Philadelphia Phillies first signed Brad Miller this past offseason, morale was through the roof. Not only was “Bamboo Brad” a fan-favorite during his brief 2019 stint, but he was coming off a particularly impressive season with the St. Louis Cardinals. The lefty slugger recorded an .807 OPS in 2020, even spending some time in the Card’s cleanup spot.

Seeing as the Phillies lineup was pretty much set prior to Miller signing, the general consensus was that he’d turn into one of the league’s best backups – able to fill in at a variety of different positions.

Through the Phillies first 12 games, the way in which the team has used Miller has been…strange, to say the least. He’s recorded just 10 total plate appearances, only making one showing in the team’s starting lineup thus far. For comparison’s sake, Matt Joyce (a 36 year old bench bat who made the team via a minor league contract) has made three starts.

Most recently, Joe Girardi and the Phillies went out of their way to plop Ronald Torreyes into the lineup on Wednesday against the Mets. A pretty baffling decision considering just how bad Torreyes is at the plate. The team could’ve easily played Jean Segura at SS for the day and Miller at 2B. Instead, they rocked with Torreyes, who struck out twice.

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Andrew McCutchen – who is currently batting .139 – is another player who one would assume could lose playing time to Miller. Instead, the Phillies continue to roll out Cutch as their leadoff hitter despite his abysmal production, or they substitute in the before mentioned Matt Joyce.

Miller has seen the most amount of action this season as a pinch-hitter, which still doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Miller has a career OPS of .533 as a pinch-hitter, compared to a career OPS of .744 as a starter.

So what gives? Did the Philadelphia Phillies really pay Miller $3 million this past offseason just to incorrectly use him as some sort of glorified pinch-hitter, while the likes of Joyce and Torreyes get regular reps in the starting lineup?

I sure hope not.

It’s worth mentioning that Miller did suffer an oblique injury during Spring Training, so it’s entirely possible that the team is just being extra cautious when it comes to ramping him back into action. While we obviously want Miller to be 100% healthy, him still dealing with some nagging pain would explain his lack of at-bats the last two weeks.

The Philadelphia Phillies need to use Brad Miller more frequently.

The Phillies offense is in a major funk at the moment, and that’s where a guy like Miller is supposed to come into play. He has some major pop to his bat, and offers a sense of energy that some of the regular everyday starters may not possess. With Cutch struggling so much out in left field, I’d make the argument that Miller should just flat out replace the veteran outfielder in the lineup until he figures his swing out. Miller has plenty of big-league experience playing LF.

Shuffling the infield around on a more regular basis to get Miller involved should also be a priority. Alec Bohm hasn’t been particularly impressive at 3B this season, and Rhys Hoskins has his ups and downs. Miller can also comfortably play 2B should Didi or Segura need more rest days in the future (no more Torreyes please!).

Next. Mickey Moniak should be the Phillies’ everyday CF, no questions asked. dark

Ultimately speaking, the lack of “Bamboo Brad” over the past 12 games, but more specifically over the past 6 has been frustrating. They signed him to be a spark plug off the bench – a “secret weapon” if you will. As long as he’s healthy, Joe Girardi and the Philadelphia Phillies need to do a better job of getting him consistent at-bats moving forward.

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