The Phillies’ rare investment in Brad Miller is already paying off

The Phillies started last season with four reserve players who combined to earn roughly $2.2 million. Constructing the bench, a patchwork of extra pieces, was not exactly a priority entering 2020. There were no major resources committed to who the extra players would be.

For most of the last decade, that’s how the Phillies have operated. But the team’s new front office took a different approach this winter, signing Brad Miller for $3.5 million — half the amount the Phillies combined to spend on their fourth and fifth starting pitchers — to be a utility player off the bench.

Miller, an everyday player last season in St. Louis, returned to Philadelphia to be a role player as pinch-hitting returns for one more season. He’s a left-handed bench bat who can fill in when needed in the infield and outfield corners.

And it’s already easy to see how the investment can pay off.

The Phillies, needing a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning of Monday night’s 5-3 win over the Mets, had the luxury of calling on a hitter who had an .807 OPS last season and batted cleanup for a playoff team. Miller stroked a one-out single to start a five-run rally.

It was a wild win that may not have been possible without an offseason commitment that has been uncommon in recent Phillies history.

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“I think winning over the course of a full major-league season, I think you need as much depth and as many quality players as possible,” Miller said Tuesday afternoon. “You look at really good teams, they have starting-caliber players on the bench and, shoot, and they even have starting-caliber players in the minor leagues. So I think that is something I look at. Obviously, I want to play every inning of every game. But I also want to win a championship.”

Miller splits his pregame work between taking grounders in the infield and shagging fly balls in the outfield. He started Tuesday at first base but could be playing left field on Wednesday and third base on Friday. That’s the life of a bench player. Miller carries three gloves with him and plays first base with a mitt given to him last season by Paul Goldschmidt, a three-time Gold Glove winner.

“He saw mine last year and said it was trash, so he’s like, ‘This is not going to work,’” Miller said. “I just said that was my only one. And so Goldie gave me one so I have a Goldie first-base mitt. Not a bad one at all. it’s a beautiful glove. He’s just so plain so it’s just like a plain generic glove.”

Miller’s contract is the largest offseason commitment the Phillies have made to an external player to join their bench since they purchased Ty Wigginton from Colorado before the 2012 season. The Phillies added Wigginton to be a right-handed bench bat who could play the infield corners, similar to how the Phillies plan to use Miller.

But when Ryan Howard’s rehab from his Achilles injury was slower than anticipated, Wigginton opened the season at first base and started nearly half of the team’s games. His role changed. And Miller’s could too. If a need arises, the Phillies will be prepared thanks to a rare investment.

“I understand that things happen throughout the year,” Miller said. “It’s just baseball and every year my role changes and it’s fluid and everything. But I think it’s really important from a team perspective to get as many quality players. If you want to win a championship, you have to be deep, 40-45 guys.”

Manager Joe Girardi said the team is following closely the happenings at the alternate site in Allentown. Scott Kingery is there working on his swing and Odúbel Herrera and Mickey Moniak — potential reinforcements in center — are getting everyday reps. ... Aaron Nola will start Wednesday’s series finale against left-hander David Peterson.