MASON MILLER<\/p>\n
Position(s): Right-handed reliever
\nBats \/ Throws: Right \/ Right
\n2026 opening day age: 27
\nHeight \/ Weight: 6-foot-5 \/ 200 pounds
\nHow acquired: Via trade with the Sacramento Athletics in July 2025
\nContract status: Will make $4 million after agreeing to a one-year contract to avoid arbitration; will not be a free agent until 2030
\nfWAR in 2025: 2.0
\nKey 2025 stats: 1-2, 2.63 ERA, 22 saves, 10 holds, 104 strikeouts, 28 walks, 0.91 WHIP, .139 opponent average, 61\u2154 IP (60 games)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
STAT TO NOTE<\/p>\n
16 \u2014 The run value produced by Miller\u2019s slider, according to Statcast, topped only by Braves ace Chris Sale (23) in 2025. Nobody threw a harder four-seamer in 2025 than Miller (101.2 mph), but that pitch was worth 1 run compared to a slider that yielded the lowest batting average (.108), slugging percentage (.108) and weighted on-base average (.114) in the majors, as well as the majors\u2019 best whiff rate (54.6%), struck out rate (52.4%) and put-away rate (37.4%).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
TRENDING<\/p>\n
Up \u2014 While the Padres and A.J. Preller entertained a pre-draft deal with Miller in 2021, he ultimately went to the Athletics in the third round. Miller was a starter in college, began his career in the rotation and debuted as a starting pitcher in 2023. He made four starts before he was shut down with elbow tightness. Miller ultimately missed three months with a mild UCL sprain, returned as a reliever that September and has been in the bullpen ever since. Because he threw just 33\u2153 innings in 2023, he qualified as a rookie in 2024 and finished fourth in AL Rookie of the Year voting at the end of an All-Star campaign that saw him strike out 104 batters over 65 innings (2.49 ERA). Miller wasn\u2019t faring nearly as well to start 2025 (3.76 ERA, 38\u2153 innings), but he throws harder than anyone in the majors and had more than four years of control, leading Preller to use his top prospect to pry him away from the Athletics. Of course, it took more than SS Leo De Vries as RHPs Henry Baez, Braden Nett and Eduarniel Nu\u00f1ez were included in the package for Miller and LHP JP Sears. Miller immediately moved into a set-up role in front of All-Star RHP Robert Suarez despite being 20-for-23 in save situations for the Athletics to start the year. Miller did save two games on off-days for Suarez, recorded 10 holds and used nothing but an elite slider (see stat to note) in recording the second immaculate inning in Padres history in early September. Losing Jason Adam to a quad injury in the final month of the year was a blow to arguably baseball\u2019s best bullpen, but it was still a strength heading into the postseason and Miller held up his end of the bargain, striking out eight over 2\u2154 scoreless innings over two appearances in the NL Wild Card Series.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
2026 OUTLOOK<\/p>\n
While Miller has history as a starting pitcher, the Padres will keep him in the bullpen this year. Suarez departed as a free agent after his second All-Star season, so Miller will slide right into the closer\u2019s role. Miller qualified for Super-2 arbitration, but he\u2019s still got three years of team control after this year \u2014 plenty of time for the Padres to reconsider how best to deploy one of the game\u2019s most electric arms if they choose.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Mason](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SUT-L-padres-1002-KC-036-1.jpg\")
Mason Miller\u00a0#22 of the San Diego Padres greets teammates after being pulled in the eighth inning against the Chicago Cubs during Game 2 of the NL Wild Card Series at Wrigley Field on Oct. 1, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by K.C. Alfred \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nROSTER RANKINGS<\/p>\n
6. RHP Mason Miller
\n7. OF Ram\u00f3n Laureano
\n8. SS Xander Bogaerts
\n9. LHP Adri\u00e1n Morej\u00f3n
\n10. RHP Jeremiah Estrada
\n11. RHP Jason Adam
\n12. 2B Jake Cronenworth
\n13. RHP Joe Musgrove
\n14. RHP Randy Vasquez
\n15. OF Gavin Sheets
\n16. LHP JP Sears
\n17. RHP Yu Darvish
\n18. RHP Bradgley Rodriguez
\n19. RHP David Morgan
\n20. C Freddy Fermin
\n21. LHP Wandy Peralta
\n22. C Luis Campusano
\n23. LHP Yuki Matsui
\n24. INF Sung-Mun Song
\n25. RHP Matt Waldron
\n26. OF Bryce Johnson
\n27. RHP Ron Marinaccio
\n28. RHP Bryan Hoeing
\n29. LHP Kyle Hart
\n30. RHP Jhony Brito
\n31. INF Will Wagner
\n32. OF Tirso Ornelas
\n33. RHP Garrett Hawkins
\n34. RHP Miguel Mendez
\n35. RHP Daison Acosta
\n36. RHP Ty Adcock
\n37. RHP Alek Jacob
\n38. INF Mason McCoy<\/p>\n
\t\t\tRevContent Feed\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Padres roster review: Mason Miller Skip to content MASON MILLER Position(s): Right-handed reliever Bats \/ Throws: Right \/…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,1334,74,76,75,2611,127,1696],"class_list":{"0":"post-157943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-san-diego","11":"tag-san-diego-headlines","12":"tag-san-diego-news","13":"tag-san-diego-padres","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-sdut"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}