PHILADELPHIA -- Aidan Miller did not waste any time reminding everyone on Saturday night why the Phillies were so high on him entering this season.
Making his 2026 debut with Single-A Clearwater, the Phillies' No. 2 prospect (No. 61 overall in MLB) ripped a 109.1 mph line drive for a leadoff double in his first at-bat of the season. He later worked a walk and also struck out while playing five innings at shortstop.
“Just happy for him,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said. “When you go through that as a player, you don't quite know why and things like that. To be able to work his way back to this point, obviously, it’s something good for the organization. But as much as anything, it’s good for the kid to be able to get back on the field.”
The 22-year-old Miller made an error in the top of the first on the first ball hit his way, but he quickly atoned for it with his double to lead off the bottom half. He then scored from second on a base hit up the middle two batters later.
It was an encouraging performance by Miller, who began the year as Philadelphia's top prospect and 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 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 made his 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.