San Diego Padres closer Mason Miller is just one inning away from setting a franchise record this week.
San Diego Padres closer Mason Miller is currently on one of the most amazing runs by a reliever in baseball history, and he’s set himself up to set the Padres franchise record. Miller’s scoreless innings streak reached 32-2/3 innings, and with another scoreless inning at Coors Field this week, he’ll tie Cla Meredith’s record, which Meredith set back in 2006.
There are all sorts of quotable stats that Miller has put up during his run, but perhaps the most amazing aspect of it is his consistency, not to mention the fact that he’s new to the closer role.
“It’s just amazing [for Miller] to be the same person … and be as elite and at the top of his game almost every single time,” said manager Craig Stammen, who pitched as a reliever for long enough to know what goes into this, in a piece written by AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. “That’s not easy to do. It’s almost impossible to do.
“We always talk about how hard he throws and how good his slider is. But his ability to be the same person every day is probably better than all that stuff.”
Right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. was more succinct in describing Miller’s success. For this year’s Padres team, having a late lead with Miller on the mound means one thing.
“Game over,” Tatis said.
But Miller isn’t exactly a self-congratulatory sort, so he’s taking a different approach to all this. He understands what it takes to do what he’s doing, and he had an interesting comment about his success.
“Success is a scary place sometimes, where you get complacent,” he said. “So I’m just staying up on everything and always focusing on getting a little better.”
The “better” part of that comment is almost laughable. As Cassavell pointed out, Miller struck out two hitters in the Padres’ 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels, and his strikeout rate went down, so it’s now at 71.1 percent.
Miller also offered some insights on his journey from brilliant setup man last season to even more brilliant closer this year. He put in a lot of work in the offseason to make his slider as successful as his fastball as an out pitch, and hitters are looking silly as a result.
“It seems disconnected to me, over the course of two seasons,” he said. “This season is off to a good start. I finished last season strong. The two aren’t necessarily connected. I’m just focused on continuing my success this year. Things like [the streak] are great. But that’s the stuff where you put your head down and work.”
The work this week will happen at Coors Field, assuming Miller gets a chance to notch his ninth save of the season against the Colorado Rockies. That’s another unique challenge, as Miller well knows, especially since the entire baseball world will be watching.