The Oakland Athletics team will be without their All-Star closer Mason Miller for quite some time. He was placed on the 15-day injury list with a broken pinky in his left hand.
The team manager, Mark Kotsay, told the reporters on Thursday that Miller suffered the injury when he “kind of pounded his fist down on a padded table out of emotion” after the win against the Houston Astros.
He further supported the player. “We’ve all been there, done that. Unfortunately, it resulted in a fracture in his non-pitching hand in his left hand where his pinky area is.”
Miller appeared in Monday’s game where he threw 11 pitches, averaged 101.4 mph with his fastball, and was a revelation. He retired all three batters without incident. For him, it was a stress-free outing.
The 25-year-old star has a 2.21 ERA with 70 strikeouts in 40 2/3 innings this year. He is 15 for 17 in save chances. He has been excellent for the team and regularly worked in non-save situations just to avoid going too long between outings.
Miller is a trade candidate leading up to the July 30 deadline. Oakland Athletics are seeking an enormous return by trading him. Players on the IL can also be traded but the injury makes him less desirable to others. It’s a broken pinky on his non-pitching hand and not something big like a shoulder or elbow. Miller may stay put because Oakland Athletics want a big return.
During Millers’ absence, Lucas Erceg is likely to fill the role of closer for Athletics. They have a series against the Francisco Giants on July 30-31 and the Los Angeles Dodgers on August 2-4.
