Miller putting tough 2016 firmly in the past

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Before heading off to his first bullpen session of 2017, right-hander Shelby Miller took a look back at his nightmarish 2016 season, which he finished with a 6.15 ERA.
"I had such a bad year, it just had a snowball effect," Miller said. "I learned a lot of things. I learned how to deal with struggling a lot. It was weird, because I had never performed that bad before in my entire life. To have to deal with it, you learn a lot of things, and you just hope to build off of that and never have it happen again."
The D-backs traded top prospect Dansby Swanson and outfielder Ender Inciarte to Atlanta as part of a package for Miller in December 2015 with the thought that he would form a dominant one-two punch with ace Zack Greinke.
The deal was controversial, with the consensus being that the D-backs gave up too much, so by the time Miller reported for Spring Training last year, the expectations for him to have a big season were enormous.
When he got off to a bad start, things began to spiral downward, and he opened the second half of the season in the Minor Leagues.
Recalled at the end of August, Miller recorded a 3.98 ERA in his final six starts, and he threw 11 shutout innings in his final two outings to end the season.
"Once I got back up last year, I felt like I did a decent job pitching," Miller said. "Still not the best I could have pitched, but I did a lot better than I did in the first half. Obviously, this year I want to get off to a better start. That won't be that hard to do."
New manager Torey Lovullo spoke several times with Miller this winter and is emphasizing a clean slate for him.
"I don't know much about what happened last year other than what I read, and quite frankly, I don't care," Lovullo said. "It doesn't matter to me. I want to focus on where we're at right now with these guys. I know that he's very eager to start this camp. I watched him throw his bullpen today, and I thought the ball was coming out very well. I could tell he did a lot of preparation behind the scenes."
Miller is hopeful that the work he put in over the winter, in addition to the fresh start that comes with a new season, will pay dividends.
"Even in 2015 with the Braves, I had a good season, but I still didn't win any games," said Miller, who went 6-17 despite a 3.02 ERA. "At the end of the day, whether my ERA is at 3.00 or 4.00 or 5.00 or whatever it is, I just want to have the wins in the win column, because all that matters is me getting wins for the team and trying to help the team win."