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Under pressure: D'backs' Shelby Miller tries to shrug off big expectations

Arizona Diamondbacks starter Shelby Miller showed up early to Turner Field on a recent game day, and despite repeated attempts, could not locate his former manager.

Arizona Diamondbacks starter Shelby Miller showed up early to Turner Field on a recent game day, and despite repeated attempts, could not locate his former manager.

“Hey, if you see Fredi Gonzalez,’’ Miller finally said, “can you see how he’s holding up?’’

The message was conveyed to Gonzalez, the beleaguered manager of the Atlanta Braves, and he immediately broke into a smile, shaking his head in disbelief.

“That’s Shelby,’’ Gonzalez said. “That’s the kind of guy he is. Here he is, going through all of his problems, and he’s worried about me.

“It tells you all you need to know about this guy.’’

Yes, indeed, while Gonzalez’s job security is the most tenuous in baseball managing the league’s worst team, Miller has easily been the game’s biggest early-season bust.

 

This is the guy that the Diamondbacks acquired in the most controversial trade of the winter, sending the Braves three prized players: .300-hitting outfielder Ender Inciarte, top pitching prospect Aaron Blair and shortstop Dansby Swanson, just months removed from Arizona selecting him No. 1 in the 2015 draft.

The Diamondbacks were widely ridiculed for giving up far too much for Miller, the Braves’ All-Star pitcher who went 6-17 but yielded a 3.02 ERA.

Well, the rant has gotten only louder these days, with Miller going 1-3 with a 7.36 ERA in his first seven starts. The numbers are alarming: 31 hits and league-leading 21 walks in 29 1/3 innings, including seven home runs. Twice, he hasn't made it past the third inning. Five times not past the fifth inning.

And has yet to pitch into the seventh inning.

His only victory was last weekend against the woeful Braves, his struggles stunning all of his former teammates, from catcher A.J. Pierzynski to closer Jason Grilli to first baseman Freddie Freeman, who witnessed a model of consistency last year.

“When you get traded for a lot of good players,’’ Braves veteran outfielder Jeff Francoeur said, “that’s a big deal. It’s tough, man. You want to try to do so much to justify what they gave up to get you. I’m sure he’s feeling a hell of a lot of pressure.’’

This hardly is what the Diamondbacks envisioned when they acquired Miller to be their No. 2 starter behind $206 million free-agent ace Zack Greinke, believing the 1-2 punch would lead them to the playoffs for the first time in five years.

 

“Nobody expected this,’’ Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart told USA TODAY Sports, “but then again, nobody expects this to last. He’s too good of a pitcher for this to last. I’m not expecting this to carry through until June or July. He’s too good for that.’’

And, yes, if the Diamondbacks had the opportunity to take a mulligan, they will still stick with their original tee shot, reminding everyone that they have control of Miller for two more seasons.

“If we had a chance to do this trade all over again, we would do the same thing,’’ Stewart said. “This trade was not just for this year. This is a long-term trade, and the guy I traded for is 200-plus inning guy. He is 25 years old and has a lot to learn, which is going to make him a ton better, and already he is pretty darn good.’’

This simply is a case, the Diamondbacks believe, of a player grossly underperforming because of self-imposed pressure. Usually, the player asked to live up to a huge investment - either in salary or players dealt to acquire him - is a well-compensated veteran.

Miller has just three years experience, and makes just $4.3 million.

“He’s really pressing to try to make things happen. You can see it,’’ Stewart said. “In each of his starts, he has shown flashes of the pitcher that we traded for. His stuff is electric with the way the ball explodes out of his hand, but then something small happens, and ends up to being a big inning. It can be an error. It can be an umpire missing a call. It can be a cheap hit. You can see it building, then it snowballs, and all of a sudden he’s out of the game.

“There’s got to be an area somewhere in there when he just relaxes, and lets it go.’’

Stewart, encouraged by Miller’s last outing - four hits, two runs and a walk in six innings - had a heart-to-heart talk three weeks ago in San Francisco with Miller, convinced Miller was trying to do everything himself to turn around the entire team. Maybe he was trying to make up for Greinke’s slow start, too, Stewart said.

“I told him that we’ve got five starters, and they all are capable of winning,’’ Stewart said. “ You don’t have to press because of Zack. You don’t carry the weight of the rotation for five days, just one day.

“Once we had that talk, I thought a light might come on, and he’d relax.’’

Instead, he lasted just two innings in his next start against the Giants. He pitched four shutout innings in his next start against the St. Louis Cardinals before giving up five runs in the fifth inning. And just 3 2/3 innings in the next against the Rockies, before his start last Saturday against the Braves.

Miller was on his way to self-destructing again in the second inning against the Braves, loading the bases with nobody out, and with pitcher Julio Teheran at the plate. Manager Chip Hale says he started pacing in the dugout.

This time, on a full count, Teheran popped up on a 94-mph fastball. Mallex Smith hit a sacrifice fly. And Nick Markakis grounded out.

He yielded just two more hits during his six-inning stint, and celebrated only his second victory in the last 12 months.

“It was a pretty big confidence boost for me,’’ said Miller, who was barraged by congratulatory text messages and calls from his family. “It just felt nice to finally pitch a decent game. I can take some positives out of it.

“I felt a little bit like my old self, so maybe this was the turning point. I sure hope so. We’ll find out.’’

Miller, who starts again Friday at home against the San Francisco Giants, likely needs another successful start or two to declare himself back. He still is issuing too many walks, striking out too few batters, and even with his last start, scouts were alarmed by his lack of confidence.

“We’re talking about a human being here,’’ Gonzalez said. “You can’t just hit F-2, control-delete. I’ve got money on his character, his work ethic, being a hell of a teammate, and being a great competitor.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but he’ll get out of this.’’

This isn’t the same guy who attracted serious interest from 12 teams, Braves GM John Coppolella said, until the Diamondbacks were finally willing to put Swanson in the deal after nine weeks of talks.

“We didn’t want to trade him,’’ Coppolella said. “If you look at the cost of starting pitchers, there are only so many Shelby Millers. You feel like he can go out every night and throw a no-hitter.

“So what’s going now, I’m floored by it. I still believe in him. Look, this trade isn’t won or lost after five or six weeks. There’s a long way to go here. Hey, if Arizona would ever get tired of him, we would love to have Shelby Miller back. The struggles he’s going through now are only temporary. This guy is way too talented for this to continue any longer.’’

Miller, whose velocity is back to 94 mph, but having trouble commanding his two-seam fastball, has no real explanation, except for occasionally rushing his mechanics. There is no arm discomfort. No worries at home. He’s as perplexed as everyone else.

“I don’t think about what’s happened in the past, or who I got traded for,’’ said Miller, who a year earlier was traded from St. Louis in a package for All-Star outfielder Jason Heyward. “To say I put pressure on myself because of the trade, no, that’s behind me. Really, it’s a compliment to see what people give up for you. It shows you how much other teams believe in you.

“When I’m out there on the mound, you don’t think about what was given up for you, and how bad will this trade look if you don’t do well. For me, more than anything, it’s just about letting my teammates down. I just want to win.

“It’s just a tough spot to be in now.’’

If anyone understand the pressure Miller bears, it’s Greinke. He was the hired gun traded from Kansas City to Milwaukee in 2011. Traded to the Los Angeles Angels for the pennant stretch in 2012. Signed a six-year, $147 million contract that winter with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Opted out this past November, and then signed for $206 million to lead the Diamondbacks to a World Series.

“I don’t think I get too worried about the expectations,’’ says Greinke, who has a 5.15 ERA after seven starts with Arizona. “Wherever I’ve gone, I just tried to be myself. When I tried to do more than I could do, I did really bad.

“Personally, I can’t learn something from what people tell me. You have to experience it before you really understand it. So you can’t just tell someone to relax. You’ve got to go through it to learn what works.’’

So, can one start be the cure?

“Well, not just one,’’ Greinke said. “It takes a couple of good starts. Then, you’ll know for sure.’’

Meanwhile, a franchise anxiously awaits.

Nightengale reported from Atlanta

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