St. Louis Cardinals promote Shelby Miller to Major League – MLB News
The St. Louis Cardinals have decided to promote Shelby Miller to Major League as the Triple-A Season concluded. The Number 1 prospect is likely to appear in his first game on Tuesday, marking a new beginning for the young pitcher.
Cardinals, for now, have decided to play him as a long reliever and there is the likelihood that he may even make a start tentatively.
The fact that in his last10 games he has posted a 2.88 ERA shows remarkable improvement that he has made after having a 6.17 ERA at the time of the All-Star break. That has not gone unnoticed by the Redbirds.
The team manager, Mike Matheny, shed light on this aspect.
"I think he made a lot of strides in the second half of the season in his game," Mike Matheny said. "I think, even more so, he made some strides maturing as a player and a person. It really seemed like he turned the corner in the way he was going about it. And obviously, he had a strong finish on the mound.”
The Cardinals are maintaining their foothold in the Division, all set for the Wild Card. Although the Cincinnati Reds have a clear eight and a half game lead at the moment, the Cardinals want to at least edge past the Pittsburgh Pirates which is the only team that can give tough time to the Cardinals as far as the playoff race is concerned.
The bullpen, in this regard, can play a central role. That is what the Cardinals were keeping in their mind while promoting Miller. In Matheny’s view, he is one of the best out there.
John Mozeliak, the Cardinals’ general manager, seems to completely agree with that assertion.
"If you look back at how he's pitched over the last six, seven weeks, he's really turned the corner," John Mozeliak said.
In just over 136 innings, he has 160 strike-outs this season. That serves as the incontrovertible evidence of his superiority as far as the Minor League pitchers are concerned. It will be interesting to see if he will be able to put that into use here in the Major League.
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