There’s two ways to look at Shelby Miller’s struggles early in the season. Either that’s the Miller we should expect from now on or his injury issues were nagging him throughout the first month.
I’m banking on injuries. Now that he’s healthy and available on the waiver wire, he’s ready to provide fantasy baseball owners with two starts this week and you should give him a try.
According to MLB.com, Miller’s velocity was back up to 95 MPH in his stints in Class A. When his fastball is working, he’s difficult to handle for the opposition. During his heyday, he kept his ERA hovering near 3.00 with a 7.4 strikeout-per-nine-inning average.
That’s what fantasy baseball owners were hoping for this year. They didn’t get it before he went on the Disabled List. He tallied a 7.09 ERA with a miniscule 5.9 strikeout-per-nine-inning average.
I’m expecting different results in his first starts off the DL this week. He squares off against Philadelphia and Jeremy Hellicksen in the series opener on Monday. Hellicksen has struggled mightily in his last three starts with over a 7.00 ERA.
And Philadelphia’s offense shouldn’t put up much of a challenge. The Phillies have scored the least amount of runs in Major League Baseball this season with the worst batting average at a blistering .228.
And surprisingly, lately, they’ve been even worse. In the month of June, they’re batting .213 as a team and have only 54 runs for the entire month. Toronto, which leads MLB in runs scored in June, has 104 runs.
To finish off the week, Miller will be put to the test at Colorado. You generally don’t want to have a pitcher on the mound at Colorado, but Miller is well rested and should be prepared for two starts in a week.
And while the Rockies can score, they’re only batting .249 in the month of June.
Miller is good enough and has shown plenty in the past to be a solid starter in fantasy baseball. If you believe like I believe and that injuries played a major part in his rough start, he’s worth an add this week to test him out, just in case he reverts back to form.
