JUPITER, Fla. — A reliever whose brilliance in October “revolutionized” how teams now finish games is leaving the mound just as his latest, lasting impact on baseball is beginning.
Andrew Miller, a postseason MVP and 6-foot-7 lefty with a wicked slider who showed how the best reliever didn’t have to wait until the ninth to save a game, is retiring after a 16-year career, he told the Post-Dispatch. The 36-year-old pitcher spent the past three seasons with the Cardinals and the past three months as a measured, influential voice at the negotiating table representing the players’ union during bargaining that won greater earning power for the young players inheriting the game.
When needed, he always did know how to close.
