Andrew Miller announces retirement after 16 seasons
After a 16-year career in MLB, Andrew Miller is hanging up the spikes, according to a report from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The 36-year-old lefty reliever was a two-time All-Star and the 2015 AL Reliever of the Year award winner. Miller was selected sixth overall in the 2006 MLB Draft by the Tigers and appeared in a total of 612 games with seven teams. He retires with a career 4.03 ERA, 979 strikeouts and 63 saves in 829 innings pitched.
Miller was one of the game’s best postseason performers out of the bullpen with a measly 0.93 ERA in 29 games in October. He started his postseason career with a 23 1/3-inning scoreless streak and struck out 54 batters in 38 2/3 innings of work. He last gave up an earned run in the postseason during Game 3 of the 2017 ALDS, after which he worked another eight innings without allowing a run.
During Cleveland’s 2016 run to the World Series, Miller had a 15-inning scoreless streak, breaking the record for a reliever in a single postseason set by Mariano Rivera and Goose Gossage. He also broke Francisco Rodriguez’s record for most strikeouts by a reliever in a single postseason with 30 K’s. He tossed 19 1/3 innings that postseason, giving up just three runs, and was named the ALCS MVP.
He is often credited with changing how late-inning relief pitchers are now used in the playoffs, as he would go multiple innings out of the bullpen in high-leverage situations rather than the traditional one frame.
Miller spent time with seven organizations throughout his career. He received Cy Young Award votes in 2015 and 2016 and earned a save in the 2017 All-Star Game. He was also a part of the United States national team during the 2017 World Baseball Classic, which took home gold that year.