Thursday, November 5, 2026
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Aidan Miller is making up for lost time out in the Arizona desert this fall.
After missing essentially the entire regular season with a back injury, the Phillies’ top position prospect has wasted little time reminding everyone why he remains one of the organization’s most important young players.
Aside from playing in a brief 14-game stint late in the year and helping Double-A Reading win an Eastern League title, Miller spent most of 2026 working his way back to full health.
Now, he’s thriving in baseball’s premier offseason showcase.
The 22-year-old was named an Arizona Fall League All-Star on Wednesday and will represent the Phillies in the league’s version of the Midsummer Classic on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on MLB Network and MLB.com.
The nod is well deserved. Miller has been one of the league’s most productive hitters.
Miller paces the circuit with a .562 on-base percentage thanks to his league-leading 24 walks which are seven more than the next closest hitter. He also ranks seventh in OPS (1.062) and is tied for 10th with a .333 contact clip through 14 games.
While those numbers are impressive on their own, Miller’s performance carries significance beyond individual accolades.
His emergence comes at a pivotal moment for the Phillies’ organization. .
The front office declined to extend Alec Bohm the $23.15 million one-year qualifying offer on this week, a move that could signal confidence in Miller who has been playing at third base exclusively this fall.
Had the Phillies retained Bohm on the one-year deal, it would have provided another season of development for Miller in Triple-A while allowing him to make his major-league debut later in the year.
As it stands, the Phillies seemingly have cleared a path for the young prospect to potentially break camp next season as the team’s starting third baseman.
There was an outside chance that Miller could have made the Opening Day roster out of spring training if he tore it up in the Grapefruit league, joining fellow top prospects Justin Crawford and Andrew Painter.
“Yeah, that was the goal,” Miller told Todd Zolecki on The Phillies Show about the possibility of making the team last year.
“That was the goal going into 2026. That’s the goal going into 2027. Be healthy and compete for a spot on the team.”
Miller’s chance to make the roster last season diminished when he was dealing with back tightness early in the spring. After being shut down, he was officially diagnosed with discogenic pain and facet inflammation in his lumbar spine.
On June 3, the Phillies announced he would undergo a radiofrequency ablation of the facet joints, forcing him to sit out six to eight weeks following the procedure.
The prolonged absence reshaped how Miller views the game.
“It’s changed my perspective,” Miller said.
“Being out here being so grateful to be playing baseball again. It’s definitely given me a new love for the game. I think I took it for granted, honestly for my whole career so far.”
Miller is still far from a finished product. But the combination of his talent, improved perspective and health, and recent experience winning a championship offers encouraging signs for the Phillies.
More importantly, he’s proving that the back issues that derailed his season no longer appear to be holding him back.
For an organization who is looking for a new third baseman and maximizing its championship window, that may be the most important development of all.
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