At 47-68, the Oakland Athletics are ending their Bay Area legacy on a sad note. However, young stars like closer Mason Miller could be building blocks for the future, and he's now ready to contribute to the squad again.
Miller got activated Wednesday after suffering a fractured left pinky finger on July 25, via the Athletics' Communications department.
“The Oakland A’s reinstated right-handed pitcher Mason Miller from the 15-day injured list, recalled infielder Armando Alvarez from Triple-A Las Vegas, placed outfielder/first baseman Seth Brown on the paternity list, and designated right-handed pitcher Gerardo Reyes for assignment,” the team announced.
Miller has been a sensation this year, recording a 2.21 ERA with 15 saves in 34 appearances. The 2021 third-round draft pick leads the MLB with 15.49 strikeouts per nine innings.
While it's normal for pitchers to pick up hand injuries, the way Miller rehabbed this one was unusual.
Mason Miller got extra help from Athletics manager Mark Kotsay
Kotsay evaluated Miller's progress on Monday by hitting off of him during a live batting practice session, via MLB.com's Martín Gallegos
“Yes, I personally stepped in the box off Mason,” Kotsay said. “You spend 17 years in a batter’s box, you have a pretty good idea of what it’s supposed to look like.”
Miller tossed five pitches to Kotsay, and admitted the rookie All-Star's stuff was “pretty good.”
Miller threw 15 pitches throughout the session with a splint on his glove hand and felt no pain when squeezing it during fielding practice.
“That was the biggest thing,” Kotsay said. “It was based on the pain tolerance for squeezing the glove. He’s more comfortable that he can get the glove squeezed to protect himself on a ball coming back at him. … We’ll see how he bounces back [on Tuesday] and make a determination. We could possibly activate him by the end of the series.”
Miller injured the pinky when he punched a table in the locker room. Hopefully for Oakland, the 25-year-old continues channeling his anger into punchouts rather than punches going forward
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