Phillies top prospect rightfully picked as team's hottest hitter to end the season

The Philadelphia Phillies' top ranked prospect Aidan Miller has had quite the start to his professional career. Drafted in 2023 in the first round, the shortstop has catapulted through the Phillies' minor league system.

The top prospect began the year with Single-A Clearwater but was promoted in June and joined High-A Jersey Shore after posting an OPS of .884 in 39 games at the lower level.

While his promotion to Jersey Shore started out slowly, Miller has recently picked it up and has been recognized by MLB Pipeline as the Phillies' hottest-hitting prospect to end the 2024 minor league season.

Phillies top prospect Aidan Miller rightfully picked as team's hottest hitter to end the season

After joining Jersey Shore, it took the just-turned-20-year-old a little bit to acclimate to the more advanced pitching. Through July 31, Miller was hitting just .195 at High-A. August was a different story for MLB Pipeline's 28th-ranked prospect.

In 97 at-bats in August, Miller slashed .299/.370/.536 with three home runs, 16 RBI and 19 runs scored. He was hot at the dish and starting to look like himself again.

After his scorching August, Miller was promoted to Double-A Reading earlier this month. In a very small sample size, he has found himself with a base knock in each of his first four games. Although each hit has been a single, he is showing the ability to put the bat on the ball in the Eastern League, in which he is almost four years younger than the average player.

This is the type of season that instills confidence in an organization. Miller played at three separate minor league levels, a pace which is not very common, and he struggled — something he likely was not used to doing coming out of Mitchell High in New Port Richey, Florida.

Despite the ups and downs, the 20-year-old was able to finish the year as the organization's hottest-hitting prospect. That shows that while he is talented on the field, Miller also has the mental capacity to figure things out when all is not well, something which is tough for young prospects to do.