Derrick Hall: Shelby Miller is ready to contribute to this team

Baseball pundits heavily criticized the Arizona Diamondbacks’ acquisition of Shelby Miller, but no one predicted the free fall the pitcher has experienced this season.

Dealing with a finger injury suffered on April 17 and off-balanced mechanics, the team placed Miller on the 15-day disabled list May 27. The right-hander has made two rehab starts at High-A Visalia and has pitched well.

If everything goes according to plan, Miller will likely be back with the D-backs and on the mound Monday for the team’s series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies.

“He looks really good, granted he’s only facing Single-A competition, but the last two starts have looked more like himself,” Arizona Diamondbacks President and CEO Derrick Hall told Doug and Wolf on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Friday. “I talked to Dave Stewart right after his second outing and his cutter has looked as good as it has since he was in Atlanta. He looks really healthy, happy, he’s got his velocity back and he’s got life to his fastball. We’re encouraged, extremely encouraged.”

Miller dominated in his first outing for the Rawhide, throwing six scoreless innings, striking out 11 and only allowing two hits. He wasn’t as locked down in his second start, striking out eight and giving up three runs (only one earned), but Hall was more than content with his overall performance in the minors.

“He knew he had to work out his mechanics, and he was willing to go there,” Hall said. “I think he only wanted to make the one start. He had his one start, just dominated and he felt like he was ready to come back then and we asked him to stay there and give us one more. We also thought it was important for him to have another positive outing, another win, another boost of confidence and I think we accomplished that. Hopefully he’s back in the form that he was in and the pitcher that we thought we were getting when we were so interested in making the acquisition.”

The good news moving forward is Miller really can’t pitch any worse than he did before the Diamondbacks put him on the DL.

The former Atlanta Brave is experiencing his worst statistical season of his career. Miller’s 7.09 ERA ranks 235th among all National League pitchers. Miller has not pitched into the seventh inning all season, and has only recorded one quality start in 10 outings.

Despite Miller’s early season struggles, Hall believes Miller has righted the ship and fully expects him to contribute to the team.

“He thinks he can help the team, and that’s all you can ask for” Hall said. “His attitude is perfect, what he told Stewart after his second outing was ‘I’m ready, I’m ready to help this team, I feel like myself’ and that’s what you want to hear. The confidence is definitely back and it looked like his mechanics are back to normal.”