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The Mariners just couldn't ignore Brad Miller's dominance any longer.
Brad Miller will join the Seattle Mariners tomorrow for the Cubs series
— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) June 28, 2013
Miller joins the team for the Chicago series, and will presumably take over as the team's primary shortstop. Miller's a work in progress defensively, but his bat is ready to play. Brendan Ryan will likely to shift to a mentoring role, because the team isn't going to promote Miller and stick him on the bench. He's the new starting shortstop.
Brad Miller spent all of 26 games in AAA, and dominated it. Before tonight, Miller had a .350/.424/.570 line in Tacoma. After tonight's 2/4 night with a home run, his OPS cracked 1.000, and the M's decided they'd seen enough. Miller's career path mirrors Kyle Seager's, who spent just 24 games in AAA himself before getting the call. Seager equally dominated the PCL, and Miller's ascension has been similarly rapid.
Miller has committed six errors in 26 games, and is prone to making mistakes on routine plays. He looks good at short on tape, and some have speculated that his error issues may simply be a maturity or experience issue. The Mariners have decided to let him learn on the job, and all of a sudden, the middle of the diamond is being covered by two rookies.
The future's coming in a hurry, and Dustin Ackley now finds himself relegated to the outfield, at least for now. The Mariners will have to make a 40 man roster move, which should be Lucas Luetge, but we'll see. He's the most deserving candidate to be pushed off, but it's possible the team could transfer Gutierrez or Sucre to the 60-man DL to free up a spot for now. In the mean time, Carlos Triunfel will head down to AAA.
The Mariners just became more fun to watch. Miller's offensive ceiling isn't expected to be tremendously high, but there's certainly a possibility of him exceeding expectations. Miller's ascension has been exciting to watch, and he now fills the team's biggest offensive black hole. The Mariners just got a lot more fun to watch, and Z's 2.0 youth movement marches onward. Hopefully Miller will soon be joined by Erasmo Ramirez, and perhaps Danny Hultzen before the end of the year. This roster is changing in a hurry.