LOS ANGELES -- Phillies top prospect Aidan Miller had resumed light baseball activities as of two weeks ago.
That is no longer the case.
Though the Phillies are not calling it a setback, general manager Preston Mattingly said prior to Sunday's series finale against the Dodgers that Miller is only rehabbing his lingering back issue at this point.
"We're leaning on medical," Mattingly said. "Still just doing his rehab program at this point. It's not baseball activities, but as we've seen over the years, that could change pretty quickly."
In Miller's case, the process has been anything but quick.
Miller, who turns 22 years old on June 9, is not only the Phillies' No. 1 prospect but MLB Pipeline's No. 15 prospect overall. He played through back soreness last year, though it didn't cost him any time until the very end of the season. He ultimately missed the Arizona Fall League, which he had been scheduled to play in.
Miller then arrived at Phillies camp in February, presumably healthy and in a position to potentially impact the big league roster this summer. But just before the start of Grapefruit League play on Feb. 21, Miller complained of soreness in his lower back.
It's been slow going ever since. The team has provided vague updates about what Miller is -- or isn't -- doing at the Phillies' complex in Clearwater.
Despite the fact that he was doing "light baseball activities" and no longer is, the Phillies said nothing specific happened to cause that.
“I know he's been playing catch throughout the year, he's doing his ground-ball routine, things like that," Mattingly said. "I think when things come up -- not that anything's happened -- but you just want to keep doing checkpoints throughout the year to make sure everything's trending the way we want it to, and kind of proceed from there.”
Has Miller swung a bat?
"He has not swung a bat, no," Mattingly said. "He’s doing exercises, but not swinging a bat."
Still, the Phillies are confident that 2026 will not be a lost year for the highly regarded prospect whom they selected 27th overall in the 2023 Draft.
Asked if the organization expects Miller to play in a game this year, Mattingly replied: "Yeah, I think we're optimistic he's going to play in a game this season."
President of baseball operations expressed a similar sentiment in early April when asked the same question. ("Oh yeah, for sure. For sure. Oh yes," Dombrowski said at the time.)
The Phillies, though, do not have a timeline for when that might be. They also did not provide any sort of timeline for when they hope Miller might progress to the next stage of his rehab.
Back injuries, of course, can be tricky -- especially when it's a recurring issue with such a young player. The Phillies are certainly going to continue to be cautious with a player whom they expect to be a big part of the organization for years to come.
So, for now, they remain in wait-and-see mode.
“Like a lot of our guys that have been banged up -- whether it was [Zack] Wheeler or different guys -- we lean heavily on the medical staff," Mattingly said. "So whenever they feel like he's cleared and [ready] to ramp up baseball activities, that's what we're gonna do. So we're kind of leaning on medical for everything with Aidan.”