Miles was a Rule 5 long shot. Now, he's an indispensable Blue Jays arm

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After a 2025 Arizona Fall League season that put him back on the baseball radar, the goal was simple for Spencer Miles: Make it to The Show.

“If I make the big leagues next year,” Miles told MLB.com’s Maria Guardado last October, “that’d be nice.”

During an outstanding rookie season for the Blue Jays, Miles has done a lot more than simply make his MLB debut. The Rule 5 Draft pick has filled practically every role on Toronto’s pitching staff and has done so admirably, lowering his ERA to 2.77 and picking up his second career save with a perfect two-inning outing on Tuesday against the Athletics.

“I’m kind of running out of words for Spence,” manager John Schneider said. “He’s been unbelievably important to us: starter, opener, reliever, low leverage, high leverage. It’s been 80-some-odd innings of really quality work.”

Miles is crucial to a Blue Jays club fighting for an American League Wild Card spot in the season’s final month. After a second-half surge, Toronto enters Wednesday at 73-73, just one game behind Cleveland for the third and final AL Wild Card berth.

“It’s kind of crazy, especially your first year, you know?” Miles told MLB.com. “We’re clawing back and trying to get back into things. It’s been a wild ride.”

Just how wild? Think of it this way: Twelve months ago, Miles was still recovering from Tommy John surgery. He hadn’t thrown a competitive pitch since June 2024, and he had never pitched above the Single-A level.

But the AFL changed everything. Then in the Giants organization, Miles tossed 8 2/3 innings for the Scottsdale Scorpions, striking out 12. He allowed four earned runs for a 4.15 ERA, but it was a successful showcase: Miles had put himself on team radars.

“Before the Fall League, no chance, because you have no sample size,” Miles said. “That would have been a freaking dark horse, long shot, but here we are.”

On Dec. 10, the Blue Jays took Miles with the 10th pick in the Rule 5 Draft. Needing to make the big league club or be offered back to San Francisco, Miles posted a 3.72 ERA in seven Grapefruit League games, striking out 11 in 9 2/3 innings, and made Toronto’s Opening Day roster.

“It was huge. It showed that they trusted me,” he said. “I don’t think I had a great Spring Training, but I showcased enough for them to trust me and give me a chance.”

Miles has run with that chance. Since earning the win in his Major League debut against the A’s at Rogers Centre, he’s been a reliable option either as a starter or out of the bullpen. His workload is building up late in the season, which could be a concern for a pitcher coming off a lost year due to injury, but Miles feels good, and the Blue Jays trust him.

“We’re trying to find the best way to utilize him down the stretch with some vacancies in the rotation and trying to get the most meaningful innings out of him in whatever role that may be,” Schneider said.

Miles’ sinker -- the most-used offering in his five-pitch repertoire -- has been one of the most effective pitches in the Majors, ranking seventh in MLB and second among sinkers with a +19 pitching run value.

The right-hander doesn’t get many swings and misses, but he’s adept at limiting hard contact: Miles’ 3.6% barrel rate ranks in the 95th percentile in the Majors. After all, it’s hard to barrel up a pitcher who keeps the ball on the ground: Miles has a 51.8% ground-ball rate in 2026 (89th percentile).

It’s been a rather seamless adjustment to the big leagues for a pitcher who not too long ago was a 140-pound “late bloomer” in high school. But Miles earned a walk-on roster spot at Missouri and pitched his way to a fourth-round selection by the Giants in the 2022 Draft. A back injury late that season cost him all of '23 before Tommy John surgery wiped out half of the following season and the entirety of ’25, but Miles is on the sunny side of what he acknowledged has been “a long journey.”

“It’s been amazing,” he said. “It’s been a great clubhouse, a great group of guys, great coaching staff. Instilled a lot of confidence in me and allowed me to trust my stuff and go out there and be myself.”