Miller’s Time: 2019 Red Sox draftee chasing baseball drive

When the Boston Red Sox released Dean Miller after 83 minor league games, they probably figured they’d seen enough of the 6-foot-3, 235-pound outfielder to make such a judgment.

Miller wasn’t so sure. So he called up one of his old summer league coaches to see if he knew where he might find some more baseball.

That coach had a pretty good idea.

“I played for Stu Pederson’s son, Tyger, after my sophomore year of college,’ Miller said. “When I was released I called Tyger to see if he knew anybody involved in baseball.”

Stu Pederson is the bench coach for the Glacier Range Riders. Now Miller is one of their more familiar faces as they open up a seven-game Pioneer League series with Billings today at Flathead Field.

The 25-year-old fits comfortably into the middle of the lineup, batting anywhere from the three-hole to sixth.

“Tyger told us he’d be one of the best hitters in the league,” Range Riders manager Nick Hogan said. “So far he’s been that.

“He has good pop. He’s a really good two-strike hitter. He has a good mindset about what he wants to do with two strikes, and he probably has some of our best competitive at-bats.”

Miller’s .305 average going into Sunday’s game at Missoula sat third on the team, behind Ryan Cash (.364) and Ben McConnell (.307).

It compares favorably from his time in the Red Sox system, though it started well enough. He played 37 games in the Gulf Coast League after getting drafted in the 24th round in 2019, and hit .289.

The next minor league season was erased by Covid-19, and then the Major Leagues pulled affiliation away from 40 minor league teams.

In 2021; Miller split time between Greenville and Salem, both long-season Class A teams, and played just 46 games. He hit .181, with six homers.

“I kind of had a down year,” Miller said. “Battled some injuries and wasn’t playing to the best of my ability. The numbers weren’t there, but I was still performing my role, which was one or two games a week. It’s tough in that role, but like I said, the numbers weren’t there.”

It figured a numbers game cost several baseball farmhands post-2019, and it did Miller. The Pioneer League, with its 98-game season, is a pretty good landing spot for those guys.

“You’ve got to see it through, especially when you believe you have the talent and ability to make it to the highest level,” Miller said. “You just need the opportunity, you know?”

“Playing once or twice a week, it’s hard for him to get into a rhythm,” Hogan said. “And at that level you have to produce in those one or two chances to maybe get a third start that week.

“I think he’s in a good spot there, where he can show he can play every day and he’s having a pretty good season.”

Along the way Miller has branched out, playing a little bit of third and first base.

“We were in Great Falls one day and had a couple guys get hurt,” Hogan said. “He was taking ground balls and we were trying to figure something out and sure enough, he wasn’t too bad.

“He’s a guy that wants to play every day, and will play wherever you ask him to.”

It’s a way to battle back against the numbers. “Just trying to give some options to teams,” he said.

Miller grew up in Riverside, Calif., and we mean really: He graduated high school there, then played at the highly touted Riverside Community College, and then two years at Division I UC Riverside for coach Troy Percival.

“I told my dad when I was 9 years old that was the route I was going to take,” he said. “Riverside CC, then UC-R, and hopefully get drafted out of UC-R. So it was pretty cool how it all worked out.”

That it didn’t work out with Boston is maybe just a glitch in his journey. Miller is one of 11 of the original 23 Range Riders left that opened the season in May; that includes just four pitchers. Two more solid hitters, Gabe Howell and Brandon Trammell, have been injured.

The record isn’t great; and it doesn’t help that Glacier has a mostly North Division schedule (entering Sunday the North is 41-17 against the South). But also, a new start awaits: The PBL plays a split season with the second half starting July 19.

“I think our offense has always been competing, always been producing,” Miller said. “It’s just getting all the pieces to fit together. We’ve moved some guys in and out, we got some new pitchers and they’ve been competing. It hasn’t all fallen into place right yet, but it’s going in the right direction.

“We’re learning, we’re growing.”

That career-long 19-hour opening bus trip to Colorado Springs notwithstanding, Miller has enjoyed his time in Montana. The local fans are passionate, and he gets to play every day.

“I’m just doing that, locking in my swing and getting more at-bats under my belt,” he said. “It’s been a cool experience for sure.”