CLEVELAND, Ohio - Former Illinois State standout Owen Miller made his Major League Baseball debut on Sunday afternoon as the designated hitter for the Cleveland Indians. He becomes the 17th player in program history to reach the MLB level, and the first to make their debut since Ryan Court played in a dozen games with Seattle during the 2019 season. He joins Saint Louis Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong as the only two Redbirds currently on MLB rosters.
Originally drafted by the San Diego Padres in the third round of the 2018 MLB Amateur Draft, he worked his way up the minor league system, spending time with the Padre's minor league system in A and AA in 2018 and 2019. In 2020 he was traded to the Cleveland Indians as part of a package to send Mike Clevinger to San Diego. This season with the AAA Columbus Clippers he was batting .406 with 26 hits in 70 plate appearances over 16 games while adding 11 runs, nine RBI's, five doubles, a triple and two home runs.
He was named a Texas League All-Star, a AA All-Star, and a Padres Organization All-Star in 2019.
During his time at Illinois State, Miller earned All-Missouri Valley Conference First Team, named First Team All-Region and Third Team All-American by ABCA/Rawlings, and named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week (5/14). He slashed .384/.433/.537 with the team's top batting average and a team-leading 88 hits which is the most in any season for a Redbird. Miller ranked second in the MVC in batting average and third in hits while he ranked 20th nationally in batting average, 17th in hits, and sixth in hits per game (1.69).
