So Far, So Good for the Blue Jays’ Next Great Bullpen Piece

Consider where Spencer Miles was just six months ago. Having just missed the entirety of the 2025 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, the right-hander’s career was at crossroads. Since turning pro in 2022, he had logged a combined 14.2 IP across four professional seasons. None of which, came above Low-A.

In need of innings, Miles traveled to Arizona in October and pitched in the Arizona Fall League in order to get some pitching reps under his belt. He appeared in five games, logged 8.2 innings, and punched out 12 batters. In the process, he showcased elite stuff metrically.

Come November however, the San Francisco Giants had a decision to make, either put Miles on their 40-man roster or risk exposing him to the Rule 5 Draft where any of the 29 other teams could select him. They opted for the latter, and the Toronto Blue Jays obliged by selecting him on Dec. 10, during the final day of the Winter Meetings.

Miles entered spring training battling with a handful of others for one of the final spots on the Blue Jays opening day bullpen, including fellow Rule-5 selection Angel Bastardo. And while he didn’t have a standout spring results wise, the Blue Jays leaned on what drew them to him to begin with, his stuff. Which led to Miles winning the job and entering Opening Day apart of the Blue Jays bullpen.

Thus far Miles has appeared in five games, logging 9.1 innings in the process. The results have been relatively fine, but the stuff has stood out.

That’s what I want to dig into today, because it’s truly a unique pitch mix from a reliever.

What Does Spencer Miles’ Stuff Look Like?

Miles has a starter’s pitch mix as a reliever. We have two distinct fastball shapes with his four-seamer and sinker and a “slider” that plays more like a cutter while also having a really nice sharp diving curveball that grades out well.

Miles’ four-seamer sits in the 96-98 MPH range depending on how long or short his appearances are. The pitch has elite velocity but grades out poorly to it’s lack of cut/ride action. It’s a pitch he loves to use squarely at the top of the zone to allow it’s velocity to make it a difficult pitch for hitters to square up. Much like he did here against Ezequiel Tovar:

While the four-seamer for Miles is a north-south pitch, his sinker is more of a east-west offering. It grades out as his best pitch due to the elite amount of horizontal break it generates (15.9″) while coming from an even steeper vertical approach angle (-5.3) than his 4-seamer while maintaining nearly identical velocity.

In the (very) early stages of Miles’ career, that very sinker has produced a solid 30% whiff rate which gives you an idea of just how good an offering this is. The zone% stands as something that could improve as Miles has only thrown it for a strike 48.9% of the time but that’s something that could/should come with more reps. The pitch itself is diabolical.

Miles’ slider is more of a gyro slider given it’s higher end velocity and lack of horizontal break. It’s a fantastic pitch to tunnel off his fastball given it starts at the same plane before diving glove side as opposed to arm side. The pitch averages 87.4 MPH with 0.8″of IVB, -3.4″ HB, at a -7.9 VAA.

Before the season, most people had classified this offering as a cutter but after getting more consistent data on it, it’s been rightfully changed to a slider. A gyro slider to be exact for the reasons stated above. The results include a 15% whiff rate and not a single hit on five batted balls from hitters.

His curveball rounds out his arsenal. It’s been the pitch hit the hardest thus far, as both of the home runs he’s allowed have come off this pitch and hitters have produced a .399 xBA and a 1.367 xSLG off the curve. It’s also the pitch he’s located in the strike zone most frequently (48.3% zone rate) and the pitch hitters have chased the most (40%).

It grades out as an above average curveball due to it’s shape and was a pitch that produced great swing-and-miss results in both the AFL and spring training for him, so there’s a good chance we can chalk this up to early season small sample size variance.

The usage of his curve has come predominately versus left-handed hitters as he’s thrown it 68.4% of the time to the opposite handedness. The goal here is to have the curveball tunnel off the four-seam fastball which both start at the top of the zone and are his two primary weapons vs lefties.

As Miles continues to get more innings under his belt, I suspect he’ll begin tinkering with his pitch usages to become a little less predictable given the handedness of hitter he’s facing. The stuff is more than good enough to compensate.

Early First Impressions Are Positive

So far, so good for Spencer Miles. For a guy who had never pitched above A-ball prior to this season he’s held his own as well as you could’ve hoped for. This is a guy who’s MLB debut came in the 11th inning of a tie game against the A’s and he managed to put up a zero.

The Columbia, Missouri native possesses electric stuff, a calm/charismatic presence on the mound, and a keen ability to miss bats. His end goal is clearly to spend the entire season on the Blue Jays’ 26-man roster, otherwise he’d have to be offered back to his original team, the Giants.

The right-hander faces a steep uphill battle, as the Blue Jays are clearly in win-now mode and are operating in a meritocracy state with their pitching staff. Miles will have to pitch well to keep his spot. The good news for him is I think he has the stuff and moxie to do so.