COLUMBIA, Mo. – One year ago, Spencer Miles entered his sophomore season with Missouri baseball as a heralded, if yet unproven pitching prospect. The right-hander and Columbia native was tabbed as the next in line of stellar Mizzou pitching products and was penciled in as the Tigers’ ace to lead the rotation.
Miles certainly looked the part of an emerging ace after posting a solid 3.60 ERA over 15 innings in his COVID-19 shortened 2020 campaign. In four outings before the shutdown, Miles was 1-0 and added a save while striking out 11 opposing batters and walking just two. He entered 2021 ranked as the 31st-best prospect in the SEC and the seventh-highest rated underclassman.
“I was on top of the world,” Miles recalled of his mindset heading into the 2021 season. “A younger guy, draft eligible as a sophomore, Friday night guy in the SEC. COVID hit freshman year and I didn’t really get too much experience, we were actually traveling to Alabama and then got shut down. So that would have been nice to have that experience going into a tough SEC conference and I didn’t realize how tough it was really.”
The toughest league in college baseball showed its teeth to Miles in the 2021 season, as the sophomore surrendered six runs in each of his first three SEC starts. He ended the year with a 2-6 mark and a 7.01 ERA.
“As a young guy and someone who didn’t throw very hard in high school and now has a little physical edge – and I like to throw hard – I didn’t realize the importance of executing a pitch and hitting a location,” Miles recalled. “Especially sophomore year, I didn’t realize that and so what I worked on the summer was locating and really executing that pitch, whether it’s a slider out or a fastball up and in or low and in; that’s more important than just throwing hard through the zone.”
For Miles and the Tigers, the missed experience from the shortened 2020 campaign was pivotal.
“I think that’s a great example right there of not getting to pitch in a big game in the SEC and in missing a whole year of development,” Mizzou head coach Steve Bieser said. “And when you look at the COVID year, what it did to this roster was that we had a lot of guys in that boat – really they weren’t tested yet. They were talented but not tested. Spencer, definitely that hurt his development, but now he’s got another year under his belt and I feel like he’s really ready to take on that responsibility of being the number one on the staff.”
The lessons learned, tough as they may have been, showed late for Miles. Following a move to the bullpen for the Tigers, the righty recentered himself and worked four consecutive outings without allowing an earned run to finish the 2021 season. The stretch included a pair of masterful, hitless outings in Mizzou’s series upset at eventual national champion Mississippi State.
In his second-consecutive day of work against the Bulldogs, the first time going back-to-back in his career, Miles entered a tied game with two on and just one out in the eighth. He induced a ground ball before earing a 10-pitch strikeout to strand a pair in scoring position. The Tigers would score in the top of the ninth to earn Miles the victory.
“Sophomore year I got punched in the mouth a little bit, regrouped the last couple of series and thought I looked better,” he said. “The coaches and I started figuring some stuff out and then I went to the Cape and really blossomed there. Got mentally a lot tougher, physically, I had never thrown that many innings in a single year as well. So, that helped a ton and I think I’m weathered by the storm now for junior season.”
Blossom Miles did in the prestigious Cape Cod League, posting a 2.54 ERA over 17.2 innings against the top collegiate competition from across the country. He struck out 24 batters in his six outings, a mark that led the Cape at the point of Miles’ end to the summer.
For Miles, it was another data point to add to his late season results and reaffirm his adjustments on the mound were paying dividends.
“Towards the end of last season, I figured out my arm slot had dropped quite a bit throughout the season. So, I raised it up before I went out to the Cape and started throwing a little bit harder again, velo ticked up and then off-speed came back, got sharper and so I realized I can actually throw three, four pitches and execute those pitches. That really helped me with the 20-or-so innings and I was the strikeout leader for my duration out there as well. So that was a major mental boost.”
Notably for the Mizzou staff, Miles has continued to build upon his performance at the end of the 2021 season and throughout the summer at the Cape.
“That was crucial for him to go out and succeed like he did,” Bieser said of Miles’ time in the Cape. “He brought that confidence back. And again, he’s going to have to step into that lead role of being the number one guy on our staff and I think he’s done a really good job. He’s matured a lot since last season and sometimes getting punched in the mouth helps you do that. I think he’s done a good job.”
That was crucial for him to go out and succeed like he did. He brought that confidence back. And again, he’s going to have to step into that lead role of being the number one guy on our staff and I think he’s done a really good job.
Now, just weeks before the onset of his junior campaign, Miles is poised once again to play a major role for Mizzou on the mound. This time, however, he’s a different pitcher and a different person.
“I feel like I have a direction completely,” Miles said. “Last season, I wasn’t really sure. I mean, I just went out there and threw my stuff and I kind of lost my stuff too. So, I wasn’t really sure on a direction last year, but now I’ve kind of understood how to make a mental correction or a physical correction, whether that’s mechanics or anything, on the mound in between pitches. That eases your mind a lot on all aspects because making corrections in game makes you a great pitcher.”
Miles took his lumps in 2021 but has grown into a better pitcher for it. That transition from a bright-eyed young hurler into a dedicated veteran is one which has the Tigers’ coaching staff anticipating his return to the mound for a fresh start.
“I think the maturity is the biggest thing is I’ve seen him mature and seen him kind of move on past last year,” Bieser said. “He’s more focused on this year. Not dwelling on the past but really looking forward to the future and in really wanting to learn his craft better, not just knowing that he has the talent. I think maybe last year he was just going out and knew that he was very talented. This year the preparation and trying to understand what his stuff does how his pitches move and how he sequences pitches. All those things will definitely help him to be the guy this year.”
Miles’ opportunity at redemption begins in just two weeks, on Feb. 18, when the Tigers head to Nicholls State for a four-game opening series. Mizzou plays its first eight games on the road before opening Taylor Stadium on March 4 against Tarleton.
– MUTigers.com –
