Mason Miller injury: Athletics closer, trade candidate lands on IL after pounding fist ‘out of emotion’

The Oakland Athletics will be without All-Star closer Mason Miller for the foreseeable future. Miller was placed on the 15-day injured list with a broken pinky in his left hand, the team announced. Manager Mark Kotsay told reporters Thursday that Miller suffered the injury when he “kind of pounded his fist down on a padded table out of emotion” following Monday’s win over the Houston Astros (OAK 4, HOU 0).

“We’ve all been there, done that,” Kotsay said. “Unfortunately, it resulted in a fracture in his non-pitching hand in his left hand where his pinky area is.”

Miller appeared in Monday’s game and was terrific. He threw 11 pitches, averaged 101.4 mph with his fastball, and retired all three batters without incident. It was a stress-free outing.

Miller, 25, has a 2.21 ERA with 70 strikeouts in 40 2/3 innings this year. He is 15 for 17 in save chances. The lack of saves obviously has more to do with the A’s being 41-63 on the season, not something that is Miller’s fault. He’s been outstanding and has regularly worked in non-save situations (like Monday) just to avoid going too long between outings.

Given his performance and high-octane stuff, Miller is frequently mentioned as a trade candidate leading up to the July 30 deadline, though the A’s are said to be seeking an enormous return. We ranked him as the No. 7 trade candidate. Here’s the write-up:

Every summer, we waste hundreds of words explaining why a non-contender should trade their hotshot reliever with years upon years of team control remaining. Relievers are fickle, we note, so get what value you can before their success proves fleeting. Teams never do it. Whether it be David Bednar, Justin Lawrence, or too many others to list, they hold onto their relievers — and then, at some point in the near-future, they watch as their numbers fade and their value crashes. Will that happen with Miller? We sure hope not. The reality is, though, that MLB’s hardest throwing pitcher (his fastball has clocked in at 100.8 mph on average) has been so hamstrung by injury that he’s thrown just over 100 professional innings since being drafted in 2021. Does that sound like the kind of profile that’s built to last? Again, hopefully Miller finds a way; his particular brand of pyrotechnics makes him one of the most exciting watches in the game. From a roster-management perspective, however, it feels wise for the A’s to pursue a trade this summer.

Players on the injured list can be traded and, frankly, this injury makes Miller no less desirable to potential trade partners. It’s a broken pinky on his non-pitching hand. It’s not his elbow, it’s not his shoulder, nothing like that. Miller may stay put because the A’s want a big return. It won’t be because teams don’t want him after this injury. This is nothing.

Setup man Lucas Erceg, a trade candidate himself, is likely to step into the closer’s role during Miller’s absence. The A’s have series coming up against the San Francisco Giants (July 30-31) and Los Angeles Dodgers (Aug. 2-4). They won’t make the postseason themselves, but they could give teams in the race a few headaches over the next week or two.