On Jan. 14, Topps released its 2025 Bowman Draft Baseball set. Shortstop Cody Miller, a third-round pick by the Atlanta Braves, is featured on one of the cards in the set.<\/p>\n
A top prospect from East Tennessee State University, it is Miller\u2019s first professional baseball card. The enormity of the development is not lost on him, or his father, Brian.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m already on cloud nine, and I didn\u2019t think I could climb any higher, but I just did,\u201d Brian said.<\/p>\n
The reason? The photograph of Cody used on the card was shot by his father. <\/p>\n
Brian Miller <\/p>\n
Topps posted a photo of Cody and Brian, along with a picture of the card, to help promote the release of the set. <\/p>\n
Included in the set, randomly inserted into packs, are an additional 150 cards, individually numbered and signed by Cody.<\/p>\n
A collector who pulled one of Cody\u2019s autographed cards on Bowman Draft release day promptly sought out Brian and delivered the card to him personally.<\/p>\n
\u201cWords can\u2019t express the gratitude we feel,\u201d Brian posted on Instagram after meeting the collector and his sons. \u201cMoments like this remind us that there are still genuinely good people out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of this is a dream come true for the both of us,\u201d Brian said in an interview with SCD. \u00a0\u201cFirst, to be drafted, and for it to be by the Braves. We are lifelong fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt goes back to my growing up in New York state and getting all the Braves games on WTBS, back in the \u2018Superstation\u2019 days. I love Dale Murphy, I have every regular issued card of him in my collection. I\u2019ve collected baseball cards for most of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
His love for the Braves was passed on to his son.<\/p>\n
MILLER TIME<\/p>\n
The 2025 college baseball season was a breakout year for Cody at ETSU, where he helped lead the Buccaneers to the Southern Conference championship, conference tournament title, and a trip to the NCAA Regional at Vanderbilt. They also had a midweek win over No. 1-ranked Tennessee in Knoxville with several scouts in attendance.<\/p>\n
Brian said they knew there was a good chance Cody would be drafted as they had contact with over 20 scouts from different teams and were told he would probably go somewhere between the fourth and six rounds on Day 2 of the draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cCody\u2019s phone rings during the third round, he answers it, talks for a moment, and then he looks at me and smiles, then tells the person on the other end, \u2018Of course I will,\u2019\u201d Brian said.<\/p>\n
After he hangs up, he tells his dad he was selected by the Braves.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sitting there with a big grin on my face, as well,\u201d Brian said.<\/p>\n
The celebration for them began a day early.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had invited everyone to come over on the second day of the draft, so the party got started early,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Brian is the Media Relations Director at Coker University in Hartsville, S.C., which explains how his photography figured into the equation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I do some with the athletes at Coker,\u201d he said. \u201cIt has always been a love of mine. I liked to shoot shots of Cody and his teammates when he was at ETSU, and also of his brother, who played at Carson-Newman University (in Jefferson City, TN) around the same time. I would come up on the weekends, shoot Cody\u2019s games on Friday and Saturday, then hustle off and get his brother later on Saturday if the schedule worked out, then on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n
The connection with Topps came about when the card company called ETSU looking for photos of Cody. Brian had never shot photos for baseball cards before.<\/p>\n
\u201cActually, they called the ETSU baseball office wanting to know if they knew anyone that would have some good pictures of Cody,\u201d Brian said. \u201cBecause they knew of my work with the team\u2014I was like the unofficial team photographer while he was there\u2014they recommended me. I sent Topps some shots and they liked them, so here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cody was one of three shortstops the Braves selected with their first three picks in the 2025 draft. I asked Brian if they thought there was a chance he would be selected by the Braves?<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, not really, there were other teams that had talked to him more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cody had played in the summer wooden bat leagues for college players, first the Appalachian League, then a short stint in the famed Cape Cod League for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox right before the draft. His power numbers had jumped during his last year in college.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really think he opened some scout\u2019s eyes when he homered off of Louisville pitcher Patrick Forbes in the NCAA tournament,\u201d Brian said. Forbes was selected by the Arizona D\u2019Backs with the 28th pick in the first round.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe took his best fastball right out of the yard,\u201d his dad said. \u201cFunny thing is that Patrick\u2019s dad and I met up later that evening. We had a good laugh about it, and we have become good friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cody started off in Low-A ball in Augusta, Ga., where he homered in his first game and was quickly moved up to High-A Rome, where he hit over .300 combined for his first pro season.\u00a0The Braves played him at shortstop, but also some at third and second. This year will be his first spring training.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe great thing about the Braves farm system is that all their teams are now located in the state of Georgia, so I will be able to follow him around, as much as I possibly can, since I live and work right over the state line in South Carolina,\u201d Brian said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of dreams coming true here,\u201d the proud father said. \u201cFirst off, getting drafted by the Braves and me getting to shoot his first baseball card for Topps. Next, I was at his first professional game in Augusta, and got to witness and photograph his first home run.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a thrill.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he one day makes it to the majors, and I am there to witness and shoot that moment as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s all hope that happens. That would make a great card as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Jan. 14, Topps released its 2025 Bowman Draft Baseball set. Shortstop Cody Miller, a third-round pick by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2276],"tags":[46,5,11751,4137,69011,74372,16766,2291,4,1586,30942],"class_list":{"0":"post-564784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb-draft","8":"tag-atlanta-braves","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-baseball-cards","11":"tag-bowman-baseball","12":"tag-bowman-draft-baseball","13":"tag-brian-miller","14":"tag-cody-miller","15":"tag-major-league-baseball-draft","16":"tag-mlb","17":"tag-mlb-draft","18":"tag-topps"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116048304845014629","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}