San Diego Padres star Mason Miller is already the best closer in baseball, but the latest development he’s made is downright unfair to opponents. <\/p>\n
Miller has added a changeup to his arsenal. The pitch is still a work in progress as he threw just 22 last season, but he’s starting to utilize his changeup early this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not going to feel comfortable in the game unless you do it,\u201d Miller said to the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jeff Sanders. <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cTime and place for it. If the matchup\u2019s good, I\u2019m not afraid to throw it.\u201d <\/p>\n He certainly isn’t as he used the changeup against Boston Red Sox pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida in the Padres’ 3-2 win on Saturday. Miller had a 1-2-3 ninth inning at Fenway Park over the weekend. <\/p>\n Miller already boasts a 104 mph four-seam fastball and an elite slider, but now he’s adding a third weapon as yet another putaway pitch. <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the idea,\u201d Miller said. <\/p>\n A 95.2 mph changeup is simply mind-boggling considering that’s faster than many pitchers throw a fastball.<\/p>\n Manager Craig Stammen believes the third pitch in Miller’s arsenal could be especially useful against left-handed hitters. <\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s got an electric fastball and slider, and now he\u2019s breaking out a changeup,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cIt talks to, great players want to get better. They want to keep getting better. He\u2019s added that to his repertoire, and maybe that gives him a little bit more of an advantage against left-handed hitting.\u201d <\/p>\n Mason Miller On Brink of Making Padres Franchise History <\/p>\n Miller is on the brink of making franchise history as he is just eight innings away from tying the record for the longest scoreless streak in team history.<\/p>\n The right-hander hasn’t allowed a run in his last 25.2 innings, which is the the longest active scoreless streak in the big leagues.<\/p>\n Moreover, Miller hasn’t allowed a run since Aug. 5, 2025, which marked his second appearance with the Padres after they acquired him from the Athletics<\/a> in the deal of the deadline last year.<\/p>\n What’s perhaps even crazier is if you include the 2025 playoffs and 2026 World Baseball Classic in March, the right-hander has tossed 32.1 straight scoreless innings. <\/p>\n The Padres bullpen was considered one of the best in baseball before the trade deadline, given they made MLB history by sending three relievers to the All-Star Game in July.<\/a> Then, president of baseball operations A.J. Preller acquired Miller, the crown jewel of the relief market. <\/p>\n The Padres bullpen is off to a strong start<\/a>, and All-Star reliever Jason Adam is expected to return from the injured list soon<\/a>, too. Miller and Adam in the backend of the bullpen should be a lights-out duo.<\/p>\n Last season, Miller used his changeup only 2.3% of the time. Now, he’s looking to make it a slightly more regular weapon.<\/p>\n Watch out MLB hitters: Miller is only getting better in his first full season with the Padres. <\/p>\n Sign up to our free newsletter<\/a>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>\u00a0for the latest news.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego Padres star Mason Miller is already the best closer in baseball, but the latest development he’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2407],"tags":[5,4,43,137,18,4339,4338],"class_list":{"0":"post-669194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego-padres","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-padres","11":"tag-san-diego","12":"tag-san-diego-padres","13":"tag-sandiego","14":"tag-sandiegopadres"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116365889598040053","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669194","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=669194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}