July 31, 2025

This was the day that closer Mason Miller and starter JP Sears were acquired in a trade with the Athletics that included the Padres’ No. 1 prospect, shortstop Leo De Vries, and three minor league pitchers.

A trade that shocked the baseball world, but was certainly not out of the realm for Padres’ general manager, A.J. Preller. Miller, a generational arm talent who would not become a free agent until 2030, came over to San Diego for a hefty price.

Changing scenery  

In 2025 as an Athletic, Miller posted a 3.76 ERA and saved 20 games in 23 chances.

Having been moved from Sacramento to San Diego, Miller’s K% went from 39.1% and sky rocketing to 54.2% as the Padres’ eighth-inning man for the season. With Miller leaving Sutter Health Park, the park that favored hitters the second-most, just behind Mile High City’s Coors Field, for pitcher-friendly Petco Park right by the coast, Miller’s success went up massively. Petco Park is next to the coast, so fly balls often die in the air, which limits home runs and balls being peppered into the gaps.

STRAIGHT GAS from Mason Miller for his first @Padres strikeout!

103 MPH! ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/8Z3g5BgO6H

— MLB (@MLB) August 2, 2025

Changes in 2026

Miller’s pitch usage has seen some flourishing early on in 2026, as he steps into San Diego’s closer role with Robert Suarez leaving for Atlanta.

In 2025, the fireballer used his four-seamer at a 52.2% rate, his slider at a 45.6% rate, and his changeup at 2.6%.

In a small sample size from 2025 to 2026, Miller’s changeup has seen more usage, being used at a 5.0% clip. Out of 26 thrown changeups thrown from 2025 to 2026 up until now, 25 have been thrown to left-handed bats.

A Mason Miller 80-Grade Changeup v. Masataka Yoshida:

96.1 mph
0.2” iVB
19.6” horizontal break
2187 rpms
6.0 vRel pic.twitter.com/GA2zY3FIcs

— Clark Fahrenthold (@CFahrenthold11) April 4, 2026

As of April 8, Mason Miller’s 1 and 2 pitches, the four-seam fastball and slider, have seen some alterations in usage. The slider is now being used more than the heater, being used 51.7% of the time, with the four-seamer being used 43.3%.

Left-handed bats can see mostly sliders at 62%, 29% for the fastball, and 9% changeups. And for the righties, Miller is pretty strictly a two-pitch pitcher. He twirls the slider 38% of the time, and sticks with the four-seamer most of the time at 68%. Trying to protect 100+ mph at the top of the zone, sliders down in the zone, and a 95.0 mph changeup away from lefties cannot be a comfortable at bat for any batter of any caliber.

Something else of note, in Miller’s first full year as a Padre and under pitching coach Ruben Niebla, he has raised his arm angle from 35° to 39° from 2025 to 2026.

Miller is on a heater

Ever since being acquired at the 2025 trade deadline, Miller blossomed into an even more fearsome pitcher to face. As a Padre in 2025, he would only allow two earned runs, giving himself a wicked .77 ERA in 23.1 innings pitched. Oh, and that was just the regular season.

Postseason Mason Miller was nothing short of must-see baseball. Miller retired eight batters in the Wild Card Series in Chicago. He would strike out all eight of those Cubs, allowing no one to put the ball in play. This 104.5 mph fastball that was dotted on the outside corner to Carson Kelly was the fastest pitch of the 2025 season, as well as the fastest postseason pitch in pitch-tracking history (since 2008).

104 MPH ?

Mason Miller is bringing the heat pitching on back-to-back days! #Postseason pic.twitter.com/S6TyC8G3iB

— MLB (@MLB) October 1, 2025

Miller chose to represent his home country, the USA, in the World Baseball Classic this past March and continued his hot stretch as he ramped up for the 2026 season. He would throw four innings for manager Mark DeRosa, striking out 10 batters against some of the best talent in the world. Miller notably struck out Junior Caminero and Geraldo Perdomo of Team Dominican Republic to advance Team USA to the WBC Final.

MASON MILLER WINS THE BATTLE

TEAM USA WINS THE GAME! #WorldBaseballClassic pic.twitter.com/IJCG9vjv5r

— World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) March 16, 2026

As of April 8 2026, Mason Miller’s K streak early on in the season came to an end at 11. Miller struck out the final three Giants he faced on April 1 match, and he carried it into Boston. The Red Sox faced him for six at-bats, and all six men struck out. In the April 8th game versus Miller’s hometown Pirates, he would strike out Konnor Griffin and Joey Bart to extend the consecutive K streak to 11. Jake Mangum broke up the streak on a groundout to complete the series win for San Diego. Fellow Padres’ bullpen, Jeremiah Estrada owns the current consecutive strikeouts of 13, a record that he made in 2024.

Although Miller’s strikeout streak has ended, his scoreless streak has reached 26 2/3 innings pitched during Wednesday afternoon’s game.

Mason Miller’s 10th and 11th Consecutive Strikeout. pic.twitter.com/V9LBfOCeL6

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 8, 2026

So far in 2026, the Padres’ closer has pitched 5 1/3 innings, saving four games, while allowing just one hit and striking out 13 batters. Miller has not allowed a run to this point and has limited opponents to a batting average of just .059 and a WHIP of .038. Up to this point, Miller is striking out batters 72.2% of the time. The 27-year-old closer is officially must-see baseball every time he takes the mound to shut the door in the ninth for San Diego.

Angel Flores

Angel grew up a San Diego sports fan, following the Padres, SDSU athletics, San Diego FC, as well as the Chargers. He is currently a third year community college student, and will transfer to SDSU to pursue a career in Journalism.