Phils' No. 2 prospect Miller (back) to make 2026 debut with Single-A Clearwater

PHILADELPHIA -- It will not be an entirely lost season for Aidan Miller after all.

The Phillies' No. 2 prospect (No. 61 overall in MLB) will make his 2026 debut on Saturday with Single-A Clearwater. He has been sidelined all season with a recurring back issue, for which he underwent a procedure on June 5.

Miller, 22, began the year as not only Philadelphia's top prospect but also MLB Pipeline's No. 15 prospect overall. He arrived at Spring Training with the hope that he could potentially break into the big leagues and make a legitimate impact with the Phillies at some point this season.

That all began to change in February.

Though Miller had played through back soreness in 2025, it didn't cost him any time until the very end of the season. He missed the Arizona Fall League, which he had been scheduled to play in.

Miller arrived at camp feeling healthy, but he complained of back soreness just before the Phillies' Grapefruit League opener on Feb. 21. With the pain lingering, he was sent to Philadelphia for further evaluation in early March.

It was touch and go from there, with Miller experiencing a setback any time he had seemingly started to make progress. After multiple unsuccessful attempts to resume baseball activities over the next couple of months, he was sent for more visits with spine specialists.

Miller was ultimately diagnosed with discogenic pain and facet inflammation in the lumbar spine. At that point, he underwent a minimally invasive procedure on June 5 called a radiofrequency ablation of the facet joints. A radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a procedure that uses heat to destroy tissue in order to prevent pain signals from being sent back to the brain.

The Phillies said at the time that they hoped Miller would return to game activity in six to eight weeks.

Though that timeframe didn't pan out, Miller is now expected to make that long-awaited return exactly three months after undergoing his procedure.

It's an important development for both Miller and the Phillies. The club remains confident that the prospect will be an important part of the club's future, potentially as early as 2027 if he's healthy.

Getting some at-bats down the stretch could go a long way toward making that happen.

Clearwater will play its final regular-season game on Sunday before starting postseason play on Tuesday. Elsewhere in the system, Double-A Reading continues regular-season play through Sept. 13, while Triple-A Lehigh Valley concludes its regular season on Sept. 20.

It's also possible that Miller could get some extra reps in the Arizona Fall League, though that will obviously depend on how he progresses over the next few weeks.