Dodgers To Sign Brad Miller

The Dodgers have inked infielder Brad Miller to a minor league deal, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports on Twitter. He’ll join the MLB side of Spring Training once the deal is finalized.

Miller, 29, has generally been a solid offensive performer, with an overall track record of .239/.313/.409 hitting through 2,505 plate appearances in six MLB seasons. He delivers notable pop for a player capable of playing the middle infield, with a lifetime .170 isolated power mark and one thirty-homer season under his belt (2016). A left-handed hitter, Miller has typically found quite a bit more success against right-handed pitching, with a 46-point platoon split in his lifetime wRC+ figures.

It’s hard to characterize Miller otherwise, as his offensive profile has shifted over the last few seasons. His follow-up to his power surge was a 2017 season in which he lept to a 15.5% walk rate but managed only a .201 batting average and career-low .136 ISO.

It was also in 2017 that Miller began to strike out with greater frequency. That issue truly came to the fore last year, when he went down on strikes in nearly a third of his plate appearances. Otherwise, though, Miller turned in a relatively balanced campaign that mostly reflected his career mean, with a .248/.311/.413 slash and seven home runs through 254 plate appearances.

The shapeshifting hasn’t prevented Miller from typically turning in plenty of offense for a shortstop. But he hasn’t been asked to line up there since ’16, when metrics distinctly soured on his glovework. Miller hasn’t graded as a positive on the right side of the infield, either, but he can probably be trusted with at least some innings anywhere on the dirt.

Making the Dodgers roster out of camp will likely be a tall order for Miller, though his versatility and platoon-friendly offensive profile certainly suit the club’s mantra. Miller will look to follow in the footsteps of several other recent utilitymen — including former Mariners shortstop competitor Chris Taylor and 2018 breakout performer Max Muncy — in finding new form in Los Angeles. Muncy’s own presence on the roster is what makes Miller seem like a particularly tough fit at this point, though any number of developments could leave Miller with an opening to stake a claim to a job.