Persistent back issue might keep Phillies' Miller out of spring games

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Phillies prospect Aidan Miller lightly tossed a baseball against a wall on Saturday morning at BayCare Ballpark.

He hasn’t done much more than that lately.

Miller, 21, is recovering from a recurring back issue, stalling the Phillies’ plans to play him at shortstop and third base throughout the spring. It’s unclear if Miller will play in any Grapefruit League games, or be ready for Triple-A Lehigh Valley’s season opener on March 27.

“Our people felt that he was making some good progress here and was feeling good coming into Spring Training,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Saturday. “He had a setback with some things, and I guess finding exactly what caused it. Nobody knows exactly.”

Miller was the Phillies’ No. 2 prospect after the 2025 season and is the No. 23 prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline, so the spotlight on him is understandable. That attention has only grown after he missed the final few games of the 2025 Triple-A season and the entire Arizona Fall League because of his back.

“I can’t answer the question that it’s chronic at this point,” Dombrowski said. “Anytime a guy’s out with an injury and it comes back, there’s a little concern. But they tell me he’s making progress right now, and hopefully he’ll continue to do so. There’s still even some hope that he’d be ready for the beginning of the season.

"I don’t want to get too carried away at this point. But I really don’t know at this time because in some ways I don’t think anybody really knows.”