From the deer stand to the pitcher’s mound: Wade Miley’s path to spotlight

Wade Miley wears a lot of camouflage in the offseason. It keeps
him
covert up in the deer stand.

But as hunting season came to a close this spring, when it was time
for
Miley to shed the camouflage uniform and don a Sedona red one,
he
remained hidden — not by a deer stand and an outfit, but by
names like
Trevor Bauer and Tyler Skaggs and Patrick Corbin.

That — hiddenness — is nothing new for Miley. The 25-year-old
southpaw is from Loranger — a tucked-away, unincorporated town
in
southeastern Louisiana with a population of less than six thousand.
If it’s
not hard enough to get exposure in a town of Loranger’s size, try
doing it
in a state like Louisiana that’s besotted with football, attending a
high
school like Loranger High, which is best known for its women’s
basketball
exploits. Such were the initial steps in Miley’s path to the limelight
he’d
find in 2012.

After concluding a decent, one-start Spring Training, Miley tiptoed
onto the
Diamondbacks’ 25-man roster, with the help of Takashi Saito’s left
calf
strain. In typical fashion, Miley got the last spot on the roster,
slotted into
the not-so-coveted long relief role.

And if anyone on a Major League roster can hide from the spotlight,
it’s the
long relief guy. By the time he gets into the game, most have either
turned
the channel or headed for the exits.

However, it wasn’t even 72 hours into the Diamondbacks’ season
before
Miley was put under the spotlight. The team found themselves
down 6-0 to
Matt Cain and the Giants after just two and a half innings of
baseball. Josh
Collmenter was clearly struggling to keep the Giants off the
basepaths
when, a few batters into the fourth inning, Diamondbacks’ Manager
Kirk
Gibson called for Miley to come in and try to limit the damage.

Four innings and four errors later, Miley hadn’t allowed a single hit
or run,
cutting off the Giants’ offense while his team rallied for seven runs,
giving
the Diamondbacks the opening weekend sweep.

Long relievers aren’t meant to impress the way Miley did in the first
10
days of the regular season. They’re meant to eat innings in dire
situations.
They don’t have specialist stuff. They don’t have setup man stuff.
And they
certainly don’t have closer or ace stuff. Usually, they’re “the starter
that
couldn’t.” They’re the extra arm that’s solid, but not superior. You’d
rather
not need them, because they’re plan B — nothing more. They’re
meant to
be hidden.

Evidently, Miley isn’t your prototypical long relief man. When Daniel
Hudson
was moved to the disabled list with stiffness in his right shoulder, it
was
Miley who got the opportunity to start in his place.

Prior to the start, which would come against the Phillies at Chase
Field,
Gibson was asked what he expected from Miley. “A shutout,” he
responded,
jokingly. But he almost got just that. Miley held the Phillies to two
hits and
no runs over six innings and ended up with the win.

It wasn’t a fluke. In his next outing, Miley took a no-hitter into the
sixth
inning at Marlins Park, outdueling Josh Johnson for the win.

It’s hard to hide after a couple of starts like those.

Miley is emerging, indeed. He has been the most reliable
Diamondbacks
starter, having won as many games in the month of May as the rest
of the
starting rotation combined. He has the second-most wins in the
National
League and most consider him the frontrunner for the league’s
Rookie of
the Year award.

On Saturday night, Miley beat Zack Greinke of the Brewers, getting
his sixth
win of the season — twice as many as any other member of the
Diamondbacks starting rotation.

Winter is over. Wade Miley’s not hiding in a deer stand with a camo
cover-
all on. He’s front and center on the national baseball stage, sporting
Sedona red.

(For more on Wade Miley, see Jules Tompkins’ one-on-one with
him.)

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