CLEMSON, S.C. – Former Tiger righthander Ryan Miller (Venice, Fla.) made his major league debut with the Los Angeles Angels as a reliever on the mound at Detroit on Tuesday night. He became the 71st former Tiger to play in a major league game and seventh in 2024.
Miller pitched a perfect seventh inning on 13 pitches (eight strikes) with two strikeouts against the Tigers.
In two seasons (2017,18) at Clemson, he was 8-1 with five saves, a 2.59 ERA and 75 strikeouts against only 19 walks in 83.1 innings pitched over 37 relief appearances. He was drafted twice, in the sixth round (No. 189 overall) by the Diamondbacks in 2018 and in the 31st round (No. 920 overall) by the Braves in 2017.
Miller received the 2018 Stowe Award, presented to the team’s most valuable pitcher. That year, he was 7-1 with a 2.51 ERA and 64 strikeouts against 17 walks in 71.2 innings pitched over 26 relief appearances. His ERA was third best in the ACC. In 2017, he was 1-0 with a 3.09 ERA in 11.2 innings pitched over 11 relief outings while battling injury.
Miller played in the Diamondbacks’ organization in 2018 and 2019 before playing in independent leagues in 2021 and 2022. He also played at Hudson Valley in the Yankees’ organization in 2022 and at Portland in the Red Sox organization in 2023. His most-recent action was with the Angels’ AAA affiliate, Salt Lake, in 2024.
In five minor league seasons, Miller was 19-13 with a 3.76 ERA and 224 strikeouts against 69 walks in 225.0 innings pitched over 139 appearances (two starts).
Every Tiger team from 1974 to 2020 had at least one future major leaguer on its roster.
