Shelby Miller opts out of 2020 MLB season

Lorenzo Cain became the first player within the Milwaukee Brewers organization to opt out of the 2020 season over the weekend, saying in a statement on Saturday that “this is the best decision for me, my wife, and our three kids.” Another veteran big leaguer joined Cain in choosing to sit out the rest of the summer earlier today, as Shelby Miller informed the club that he too has opted out of the 2020 regular season.

Unlike Cain, Miller was not a member of the active 30-man roster for the Brewers but he was a part of the 60-man player pool and had been working out at the club’s alternate training site in Appleton. Miller has been something of an ongoing project for the Brewers; he first inked an MiLB deal with the franchise last summer, visiting the vaunted “pitching lab” in Arizona and making eight starts in the minors before re-signing with the club on another minor league contract before the 2020 season.

Miller will head into his age-30 season in 2021 with a career 4.11 ERA and 4.16 FIP across 758.1 innings at the big league level, though he was last an effective starter way back in 2015. Injuries and poor performance have derailed a once-promising career, but perhaps the Brewers will give him another shot to rebound next season when — hopefully — the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us.

Statistics courtesy of Fangraphs