In the late hours of Tuesday night in Phoenix, Arizona, new Padres flamethrower Mason Miller hurled a 103.9 MPH fastball to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on a 1-2 count. Gurriel was waiting for the heat, and sent the ball out of the park at 107.1 MPH. The harder they come in, the harder they go out, I guess.
That's the lesson the Padres learned about Mason Miller on Tuesday night. He's got serious heat – truly some of the nastiest stuff in baseball. But in 2025, he has gotten hit a little bit. His ERA is back over 4.00 now, and when any pitcher throws that hard, it does occasionally get turned back around even harder. He's human, basically.
That doesn't mean they shouldn't have traded for him, of course. Miller is 26 years old, and probably still has room to improve in future years (and the Padres have him under team control for at least four of them). Plus, when he's fully on, that fastball and slider combo pretty much is unhittable. He's going to be just fine.
Mason Miller learned that the world isn't on his shoulders
Miller, meanwhile, also learned a lesson about his new team... they're a far cry from the A's teams he's played on the past two years, and that's a good thing. The Padres had Miller's back in a big way tonight, because after he gave up a deflating two-run, game-tying blast to Gurriel, the Padres... still ended up winning by five runs in extra innings.
This isn't Oakland (or Sacramento) anymore for Mason Miller, and that's probably a nice feeling.
I say that not to offend A's fans, who have been put through the ringer and deserve far, far better than they've gotten in the past few years. But part of the torture they've endured is watching the roster be torn down — in San Diego, Miller isn't part of a rebuilding roster. He's part of a built one, littered with superstars and difference-makers.