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Rockies Re-Sign Owen Miller To Minor League Deal

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The Rockies have re-signed Owen Miller to a minor league deal, a move reflected in his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has already reported to Triple-A Albuquerque and played for the Isotopes yesterday.

Miller, 28, was acquired from the Brewers in the offseason. He had been outrighted by Milwaukee last year, so he gave the Rockies some non-roster depth to start the season. He was selected up to the majors in late April. He got into nine games and stepped to the plate 17 times, hitting .143/.294/.143. He was designated for assignment a couple of weeks ago. He cleared outright waivers for the second time in his career, which gave him the right to elect free agency, but he has circled back to the Rockies on a fresh minor league deal.

He hasn’t been able to do much with his big league opportunities so far, having also spent time with the Guardians before becoming a Brewer. He now has a .238/.287/.342 career line in 1,032 big league plate appearances, production which translates to a 75 wRC+. But he has bounced around to all four infield spots and the outfield corners. He also has 18 steals in 20 attempts.

His minor league offense has naturally been better than his major league work. He has a .279/.354/.427 line and 106 wRC+ at the Triple-A level dating back to the start of the 2021 season. He could perhaps serve as a useful utility piece if he could provide something close to that in the majors. For now, he’ll try to get in a good groove with the Isotopes and earn his way back to the show.

Photo courtesy of Kelley L Cox, Imagn Images

Owen Miller Elects Free Agency

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Infielder Owen Miller, who was recently designated for assignment and outrighted to Triple-A by the Rockies, has rejected that outright assignment in favor of free agency, per the transaction log at MiLB.com.

Colorado originally acquired the now-28-year-old Miller from the Brewers in exchange for cash back in November. Milwaukee had designated him for assignment and passed him through outright waivers last summer, but the Rox selected him back to the majors in April. Miller went 2-for-14 with a pair of walks and was hit by a pitch during 17 plate appearances with Colorado before being designated for assignment again. Because of that prior outright, he had the option to elect free agency upon clearing waivers this time around.

Miller opened the 2025 season with the Rockies’ Triple-A affiliate in Albuquerque. He tallied 90 plate appearances and batted .244/.322/.372 with two homers, two steals, a 10% walk rate and a 15.6% strikeout rate. It’s the fourth season in which Miller has seen time at Triple-A, where he’s a combined .279/.353/.427 batter in 793 plate appearances.

Miller has also seen major league time in five seasons now, previously suiting up for a pair of seasons with the Brewers and another two with the Guardians. He’s picked up 1032 plate appearances and hit .238/.287/.342 with 15 home runs, 52 doubles, a triple, 18 steals (in 20 tries), a 5.8% walk rate and a 21.3 strikeout rate.

Defensively, Miller is something of a jack-of-all-trades. He’s not necessarily proficient at any one position, but he’s recorded more than 1100 innings at each of shortstop, first base and second base, in addition to 815 innings at third base. He’s seen more sparse time in the outfield, logging a combined 204 innings across all three positions. Miller hadn’t played shortstop since 2021 until this season, but the Rockies gave him four games there in Triple-A this season — one of seven positions he played while in their system.

Miller will take that versatile defensive skill set and solid Triple-A track record back to the open market and search for a new opportunity with a club that could use a right-handed bat and/or some depth at multiple positions.

Alan Trejo Elects Free Agency

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The Rockies sent infielder Alan Trejo outright to Triple-A Albuquerque but he has exercised his right to elect free agency, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. The log also indicates that infielder Owen Miller was outrighted after last week’s DFA. He also has the right to free agency, but there’s no indication he has done so.

Trejo, 29 this month, got a brief run on Colorado’s roster. The Rockies acquired him from the Rangers in a cash deal at the end of April. He was sent to the plate 43 times but produced a dismal line of .175/.190/.225.

That’s an extreme low in a small sample but it continues his glove-first trajectory. He now has a .224/.269/.325 batting line and 49 wRC+ in 512 big league plate appearances. He has played the three infield positions to the left of first base, with at least 183 innings at each of those spots. His work at shortstop has been subpar but passable, while he’s been above average at both second and third base.

The Rockies acquired Trejo and selected Miller to fill in during a time when infielders Ezequiel Tovar, Tyler Freeman and Aaron Schunk were all on the IL, though all three were reinstated last week. Trejo and Miller are both out of options, leaving the Rockies little choice but to cut them from the 40-man entirely. As players with previous career outrights, they have the right to reject further outright assignments in favor of free agency.

Trejo’s entire big league career has been with the Rockies, though he has signed minor league deals with the Dodgers and Rangers. Perhaps he and the Rockies will reunite on a fresh minor league deal in the coming days but he will have the chance to talk to the other 29 clubs as well.

Miller was acquired from Milwaukee in a minor trade over the offseason. Colorado called him up despite a modest .244/.322/.372 slash line in Triple-A. He didn’t play much in the big leagues, going 2-14 while starting four games at second base. Assuming he doesn’t elect free agency, he’ll remain in the system as non-roster infield depth.

Photo courtesy of Eakin Howard, Imagn Images

Rockies Select Carson Palmquist

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The Rockies announced that they have selected left-hander Carson Palmquist to their roster. Thomas Harding of MLB.com reported yesterday that Palmquist was likely to be promoted and to make his major league debut starting tonight’s game. They also reinstated infielders Ezequiel Tovar, Tyler Freeman and Aaron Schunk from the 10-day injured list. To make room for those four, outfielder Sean Bouchard and right-hander Anthony Molina have been optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque while infielders Owen Miller and Alan Trejo have been designated for assignment.

Palmquist, now 24, was selected by the Rockies in the third round of the 2022 draft. Since then, he has been climbing the minor league ladder, putting up some good strikeout numbers but also giving out a fairly high number of free passes.

Overall, he has 246 1/3 minor league innings under his belt with a 3.91 earned run average. He has punched out 31.1% of opponents but also given out a walk 117 times, an 11.2% clip. He has also plunked 21 batters, only adding to the number of free bases he’s given out.

That includes 70 2/3 Triple-A innings, starting in August of last year and continuing through the present. For the Isotopes, who play in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, Palmquist has a 4.84 ERA, 24.1% strikeout rate and 14.3% walk rate.

Coming into 2025, Baseball America ranked Palmquist as the #8 prospect in the Rockies’ system. They note that the sidearming lefty doesn’t have overpowering stuff, with his fastball generally sitting in the low-90s, but with his angle and extension helping him get results from it. He’s been able to generate a lot of whiffs with his slider while also mixing in a cutter and a changeup. FanGraphs ranked him #6 in the system with a fairly similar report.

Both outlets feel Palmquist has a shot to be a serviceable back-end starter. There’s not much stopping the Rockies from letting him begin that journey now. The team has a dreadful 7-36 record, easily the worst in the majors. Since Ryan Feltner landed on the injured list a couple of weeks ago, they have had a four-man rotation core of Germán Márquez, Kyle Freeland, Antonio Senzatela and Chase Dollander, while also giving spot starts to Bradley Blalock and Tanner Gordon.

Both Blalock and Gordon are currently on optional assignment in the minors. Each of Márquez, Freeland, Senzatela and Dollander has an ERA above 6.00. The Rockies are about to play 13 straight games, starting tonight. Perhaps this will just be a spot start for Palmquist, though he could also get three turns if he stays up for the rest of this 13-game stretch.

Even if Palmquist doesn’t get an extended rotation look right away, there’s a long-term path. Márquez is an impending free agent, as is Austin Gomber, who is currently on the IL. Senzatela and Freeland are both only signed through 2026. Senzatela’s pact has a $14MM club option for 2027 though it’s hard to see that being picked up right now. Freeland can unlock a $17MM player option for 2027 by pitching 170 innings in 2026, though he has only hit that number twice in his career. Even if he’s trending towards hitting it next season, the Rockies would probably be wise to reduce his workload and not allow him to, unless he is having far better results between now and then. In that scenario, he might turn down his option and head to free agency.

Regardless of how those options play out, there should be room for young guys like Dollander, Palmquist and Blalock to take over rotation jobs in the long run, though the difficulties of pitching at Coors Field make that a tricky task even for the most talented pitching prospects.

On the position player side, Tovar, Freeman and Schunk are all back in the infield mix. That squeezes out Trejo and Miller, each of whom are out of minor league options. Trejo returned to the organization last month in a trade with Texas. He hit .175 in 14 games. Miller, acquired in a minor league deal with Milwaukee over the offseason, was promoted around the same time. He went 2-14 over nine contests. Both players figure to land on waivers in the next few days.

Rockies Select Owen Miller

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The Rockies announced the selection of infielder Owen Miller onto the major league roster. Colorado optioned third catcher Braxton Fulford back to Triple-A Albuquerque in a corresponding move. The Rox opened a 40-man roster spot by transferring Thairo Estrada from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.

Miller reaches the majors for the fifth consecutive season. He played somewhat regularly with Cleveland between 2021-22, combining for a .231/.283/.338 slash over 190 games. The Guardians traded him to Milwaukee over the 2022-23 offseason. Miller posted a .261/.303/.371 line in 314 plate appearances during his first season with the Brewers. He wasn’t much of a factor last year, appearing in only 14 games before being designated for assignment in July.

The right-handed hitter cleared waivers and remained in Triple-A with Milwaukee for the rest of the year. The Brewers dealt him to the Rockies in the opening days of the offseason. He made 28 appearances this spring as a non-roster invitee. Miller began the year in Triple-A, where he’s hitting .244/.322/.372 with two homers through 90 trips to the plate. While that’s not especially impressive in the Pacific Coast League, Miller posted a more respectable .276/.354/.392 line in Triple-A last year. He’s not an option at shortstop but can back up the other three infield positions.

Ryan McMahon is the everyday third baseman. The injury to Ezequiel Tovar has pushed Aaron Schunk into regular shortstop work. Youngster Adael Amador is starting at second base on most days, while Kyle Farmer is also mixing into the middle infield. Miller joins Farmer on Bud Black’s bench. He’s out of minor league options, so the Rockies would need to designate him for assignment if they decide to take him off the MLB roster.

Estrada’s IL transfer officially rules him out for the first two months of the season. The 60-day minimum backdates to Opening Day. Estrada broke his right wrist when he was hit by a pitch late in Spring Training. He would have opened the season as the starting second baseman after signing a $3.25MM free agent contract.

Rockies Acquire Owen Miller From Brewers

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The Rockies acquired utilityman Owen Miller from the Brewers for cash considerations, Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports (X link).

Miller is a veteran of four MLB seasons, playing with Cleveland in 2021-22 and then with Milwaukee for the last two seasons.  After playing in 280 games across his first three seasons, he had only 14 games in the Show in 2024, with a .407 OPS to show from 27 plate appearances.  The Brewers designated him for assignment and then outrighted Miller off the 40-man roster back in July.

With only a .239/.287/.345 slash line to show for his 1015 career PA in the big leagues, Miller’s defensive versatility has been far more of a calling card than his bat.  Miller has made at least one appearance at every position except catcher and center field, though the large bulk of his playing time has come at first and second base.

Miller is now out of minor league options, thus limiting his usefulness to the Brewers and perhaps to the Rockies or other teams going forward as he vies to remain on a Major League roster.  There’s no risk for Colorado in acquiring a veteran depth piece who can help at multiple positions, especially if Brendan Rodgers is traded and the Rox have an increased need in the infield.

Brewers Outright Owen Miller

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Today: The Brewers have sent Miller outright to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds, according to his transaction log on MLB.com. He has not previously been outrighted in his career, nor does he have the necessary MLB service time to reject an outright assignment, so he will remain in the organization and report to Nashville.

July 1: The Brewers announced that outfielder Garrett Mitchell has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list, with infielder Tyler Black optioned to get Mitchell onto the active roster, moves which were reported to be impending yesterday. To open a 40-man spot, infielder Owen Miller has been designated for assignment.

Miller, 27, has been a Brewer since December of 2022. That month, he came over from the Guardians in a trade that sent cash or a PTBNL to Cleveland. Last year, he acted as a serviceable depth piece by hitting .261/.303/.371 in 90 games for the Brewers around frequent optional assignments, bouncing around to multiple defensive positions.

This year, he has still been in that role but his numbers have dropped off considerably, as he currently sports a slash line of .185/.185/.222 for the year. To be fair, that has come in just 27 plate appearances while being optioned three times this year. In 195 Triple-A appearances this year, he has hit .259/.344/.382. That’s still subpar, leading to a wRC+ of 90, but far more respectable than the small sample of work at the big league level.

His time on the roster may have been nearing its end regardless, as he is in his final option year and will be out of options next year. That will give him less roster flexibility going forward and the Brewers needed a roster spot today, so he’s been nudged out of his spot a bit ahead of schedule.

They will now have a week to trade Miller or pass him through waivers. Perhaps some club in need of some depth will be interested, as Miller can still be stashed in the minors for the rest of this season. He has spent time at all four infield positions as well as the outfield corners, so he can provide a club with all kinds of defensive versatility. He has hit just .239/.287/.345 in his major league career, which translates to a 76 wRC+, but mostly in part-time roles.

He hit .305/.368/.450 in the minors from 2018 to 2021, before reaching the bigs and entering the up-and-down period he has been in for the past few seasons. That perhaps leaves some hope that his bat is better than it has looked recently. He has between two and three years of major league service and can be retained beyond this season if he has a roster spot somewhere.

Brewers Place Rhys Hoskins On Injured List

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9:33pm: Hoskins will miss between two and four weeks, manager Pat Murphy tells reporters (including Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

5:45pm: The Brewers announced today that first baseman Rhys Hoskins has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a strained right hamstring. Infielder/outfielder Owen Miller was recalled from Triple-A Nashville in a corresponding move.

Hoskins departed yesterday’s game early after tweaking his hamstring. He was set to go for an MRI today and it appears that the strain was discovered and that Hoskins will need to miss some time, though it’s still not publicly known how severe the strain is nor how long the club expects him to be out of action.

Regardless, it’s an unfortunate development for the Brewers. Although Hoskins missed all of 2023 due to a torn ACL, he has bounced right back to his old self this year. He’s hit nine home runs and is drawing walks at an 11.5% rate so far this year. His .233/.340/.474 batting line translates to a 131 wRC+, right in line with his career slash of .242/.353/.491 and 126 wRC+.

Losing that kind of production will obviously hurt the Milwaukee offense. Hoskins and Jake Bauers have been splitting the first base and designated hitter duties, though with Bauers almost never facing lefties. Of his 92 plate appearances this year, only four of them have been against southpaws.

Perhaps the right-handed hitting Gary Sánchez will cover first base a bit more to continue shielding Bauers from lefties. Sánchez had just four innings of first base experience coming into this year but has already logged 12 2/3 innings there in 2024. Miller is also capable of playing some first base but he has reverse splits in his career. Tyler Black was up with the club for a while but has since been optioned and is a lefty hitter anyway.

Bauers is having a nice season, despite a 35.9% strikeout rate. He has four home runs and is hitting .244/.326/.476 for a 127 wRC+. Perhaps the club will be open to giving him more of a chance against lefties but he has a line of .211/.278/.340 against them in his career thus far.

Brewers Promote Tyler Black

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4:05pm: The Brewers have made it official, announcing they have selected Black’s contract. Miley was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open up a 40-man spot while Miller was optioned to make room on the active roster.

1:35pm: The Brewers are expected to call up infield prospect Tyler Black today, per Jon Morosi of MLB.com. Black is not on the 40-man roster, so a corresponding move will be necessary, though Wade Miley could easily be transferred to the 60-day injured list since he is going to miss the rest of the season due to Tommy John surgery. Another move would still be necessary to get Black onto the active roster.

Black, 23, was selected by the Brewers with the 33rd overall pick in the 2021 draft. Since then, he has climbed the minor league ladder, earning huge amounts of praise for his plate discipline. He spent 2022 in High-A, walking more often than he struck out. He was limited to 283 plate appearances in 64 games due to a fractured scapula but drew 45 walks while getting punched out 44 times, leading to respective rates of 15.9% and 15.5%. He only hit four home runs but his .281/.406/.424 batting line translated to a 137 wRC+.

He got over his injury and returned to the field last year, playing 123 games between Double-A and Triple-A. He walked in 15.8% of his trips to the plate on the year while striking out at a 17.9% rate, hitting 18 home runs in the process. He hit a combined .284/.417/.513 between the two levels for a 145 wRC+. He returned to Triple-A this year and has produced a batting line of .303/.393/.525 so far.

Though the plate discipline is his most standout tool, he also has some speed to offer. He stole 13 bases in his injury-shortened 2022 campaign before swiping 55 bags on 67 tries last year. He’s tallied another three in the early going here in 2024.

Defensively, he’s more of a question mark. He was a second baseman in college and the early parts of his minor league career, spending some time in center field in 2022 as well. But since the start of last year, he’s been exclusively on the infield corners, primarily at third.

Regardless of the defensive question marks, the strong offense and the speed are enough for him to be considered one of the best prospects in the league. Baseball America currently lists him as their #73 prospect. MLB Pipeline has him at #42, ESPN at #51 while Keith Law of The Athletic put him in the #44 spot. Though for a dissenting opinion, Black doesn’t crack the top 100 at FanGraphs and Eric Longenhagen put him at just #10 in the Brewers’ system last month. Longenhagen expresses concern that Black won’t stick at third base and will eventually end up at first, where his contact-over-power approach will be insufficient.

Given the current Milwaukee infield alignment, it would seem that Black probably has a better path to playing time at first base for now. Joey Ortiz has been the regular at third and is hitting a strong .279/.392/.426 so far this year, 134 wRC+. First base has been split between Rhys Hoskins and Jake Bauers, though the latter hasn’t been performing especially well. Bauers is hitting .200/.250/.383 while striking out in 37.5% of his trips to the plate this year.

Both Bauers and Black are left-handed hitters, so it seems Bauers is the player most likely to lose playing time with Black promotion. Bauers is out of options and would have to be designated for assignment if he is to be squeezed off the roster. Though if the Brewers want to keep him around as a bench bat, they could option someone like Joey Wiemer, Oliver Dunn or Owen Miller.

It’s late enough in the season that Black can’t earn a full year of service time, at least not the traditional way. A major league season is 187 days long but a player needs 172 days in the big leagues, or on the major league injured list, to get to the one-year mark. Since we’re over a month into the 2024 campaign already, Black can’t quite make it to that line.

The current collective bargaining agreement contains measures to disincentive service time manipulation, by rewarding clubs for promotion top prospects while also allowing such players a path to getting one year of service even if held down. If a player is on two of the three top 100 lists at BA, MLB Pipeline or ESPN, they are considered eligible for the prospect promotion incentive, which applies to Black since he’s on all three.

Had the Brewers promoted Black earlier in the year, they could have earned themselves an extra draft pick depending on how he performed in awards voting, but that won’t be in play now. Black will be able to earn a full service year if he can finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting, the other new measure in the CBA, though he will have an uphill battle in achieving that. Players like Shota Imanaga Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jared Jones, Jackson Merrill, Masyn Winn and others have already had a head start of over a month to rack up stats while Black is just getting started.

Even if he comes up short of the one-year mark here in 2024, he would be in line for Super Two status after the 2026 campaign if he can stay up in the big leagues from this point forward. He would be able to go through arbitration four times instead of three before being slated for free agency after 2030, though future optional assignments could delay either of those trajectories.

Brewers Place Christian Yelich On Injured List Due To Back Strain

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The Brewers announced that outfielder Christian Yelich has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 13, due to a low back strain. Infielder/outfielder Owen Miller was recalled as the corresponding move.

Yelich, 32, last played on Friday with back soreness keeping him out of the lineup in recent days. Since IL stints can be backdated by three days as long as a player doesn’t play, the club waited to see how he responded to a bit of time off. It seems he is still sore enough that he’ll need a bit more time on the shelf, but the backdating means he could potentially be back in a week.

Though the move isn’t surprising and his absence may be brief, it’s nonetheless frustrating for the Brew Crew. Yelich hit a torrid .333/.422/.744 in his first 11 games, launching five home runs in that time. He wasn’t going to be able to maintain that forever but it’s still unfortunate that he was dragged down in the middle of such a heater.

With outfielder Garrett Mitchell also on the injured list, Milwaukee has mostly been using Jackson Chourio, Blake Perkins and Sal Frelick as their regular outfielders in recent days with Joey Wiemer in a fourth outfielder role.

The recall of Miller gives them a versatile bench piece for the time being. Since the start of 2022, he has played all of the non-shortstop infield positions as well as the outfield corners. He’s hit just .241/.289/.349 in that time but has 17 stolen bases in 19 tries and has received solid grades for his glovework.

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