Bobby Miller ‘Taking The Right Steps’

After an impressive rookie season, Bobby Miller is expected to be a key contributor in the Los Angeles Dodgers starting rotation this year.

The right-hander made his final tuneup before the regular season this past Sunday, holding the Los Angeles Angels scoreless over 4.2 innings and finishing with five strikeouts against just one walk.

“Results were pretty good,” Miller said of the outing. “I think I’m taking the right steps right now to be where I need to be. The changeup wasn’t too good early in the game but I picked it up later in the game, threw a few too many pitches than I wanted to in the amount of time I was out there.

“I like to be a little more efficient, but it was nice to get out of a jam with runners in scoring position and less than two outs.”

Miller threw 80 pitches against the Angels, including 26 in the second inning, and reiterated the need to be more efficient. “Definitely a little too many pitches for the amount of innings that I threw, but that second inning was also really good for me,” he began.

“I had a runner on second with no outs, 3-1 count. I’m never going to give in. I’m telling myself there’s no doubt in my mind I’m going to make a pitch. And if I don’t, so what? I got a forceout the next at-bat, get a ground ball to get out of it.”

Miller finished Spring Training with a 1-1 record, 2.77 ERA and 1.31 WHIP in 13 innings of work. He also pitched in an exhibition game against the Korean National Team last week, allowing two runs on five hits and collecting six strikeouts over five frames.

“I think it was pretty good,” Miller said of his performance this spring. “I feel like I grew a lot this year compared to last year. There was one kind of rough start in there but I’m taking the right steps to be where I need to be. I’m ready to go for the season.”

Next up for Bobby Miller

Miller is scheduled to make his regular season debut on Friday in the Dodgers’ second game against the St. Louis Cardinals. He was originally expected to pitch in the third matchup, but Yoshinobu Yamamoto had his Dodger Stadium debut pushed back a day.