February 04, 2026
Nathan Ray Seebeck/Imagn Images
Phillies prospect Aidan Miller represents a major piece to the club's future.
The love is pouring in for a big-name Phillies prospect as spring training fast approaches.
And no, it's not Andrew Painter, whose big fastball and mostly successful rehab from Tommy John surgery has him in line to earn a spot in the starting rotation. It's also not Justin Crawford, the presumptive Phillies every day centerfielder who is expected to contend for Rookie of the Year in 2026.
It's actually Aidan Miller — an infielder who has played just eight Triple-A games and who has no clear path to the 26-man roster.
Miller is a shortstop, and a good one, and he slashed .264/.392/.433 across two minor league stints last year, stealing 59 bases and hitting 14 homers. He's also leapfrogged Painter as the top-ranked prospect in the farm system. The Athletic has Miller No. 6 in the entire sport, while ESPN has him 10th and MLB.com has him 23rd.
That's high praise, and it brings with it high expectations.
However, despite his being invited to spring training this year, Miller won't be playing shortstop in South Philly when the season starts on March 26. All signs still point to him being in Lehigh Valley for more fine tuning. So when will he find his way to the MLB roster?
Somewhat bizarrely, some experts are making some pretty bold and strange projections for Miller. Here's one from ESPN's Eric Karabell:
Aidan Miller (No. 10) will earn the Phillies' 3B job by Memorial Day and win NL Rookie of the Year
Miller is coming off a successful minor league season in which he showed power, plate discipline and he stole 59 bases. Incumbent third baseman Alec Bohm comes off a disappointing big-league season in which he hit only 11 home runs, posted a below average 5.8% walk rate and he has never been a base stealer.
While we acknowledge Bohm is an improved defender, Miller is an athletic shortstop and a certain defensive upgrade at third base. Bohm boasts a career .743 OPS, just a bit above average, but it is only .672 in May (551 PA). When Bohm struggles again this May, Miller steps in, hits .280 with 20 home runs and 25 steals the rest of the way, and the Phillies trade Bohm to the White Sox. [ESPN.com]
You don't hear about too many trades taking place in May. This prediction is sort of... out there. If Alec Bohm is playing badly enough to warrant him being outright replaced in the lineup, I'm not sure he's going to be very tradable on an expiring contract. Concordantly, if Miller is tearing things up in the minors, he's going to need some real time to learn third base — a position he's never played once in the minors.
More realistic, maybe, is that someone in the infield gets hurt, Miller is thrown into the fire, and pulls a "Wally Pipp" on whomever he temporarily replaces. With Edmundo Sosa a proven commodity who can play well all over the infield, it's still unlikely Miller will get called up with the Phillies contending in 2026.
The Phillies trading away an everyday starter in May is probably only happening if they're in fourth place and not interested in truly competing this season.
It would be wise to cross-train him at third — Bohm will probably have a new team in 2027 — or second, with Trea Turner under contract until 2033. But that's next year's problem.
This year's problem? Try telling Miller what Steve Phillips said about him:
Aidan Miller -
— John Foley (@2008Philz) January 25, 2026
“Future of the organization”
“Alex Bregman, but with speed”
“Best position player Phillies drafted since Mike Schmidt” pic.twitter.com/eePV8NbxZH
Better than Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard or Chase Utley? Better than Hall of Famers Ryne Sandberg and Scott Rolen?
If true, the Phillies should just trade Bohm right now.
Getting a look at Miller facing big league pitching in March will be interesting. Remember how exciting it was to see top prospect Dom Brown face Roy Halladay in spring training back in 2010? The hype was real. Halladay threw a perfect game and won a Cy Young Award. Brown was out of the majors for good by age 27.
Prospect hype doesn't often pan out.
Seeing Miller everyday at Citizens Bank Park is the goal, and sounds like a reasonable expectation — but it might not come until 2027.
If it comes sooner, it's possible the Phillies have some major issues that Miller won't be able to fix.
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