Keith Alan Miller (born June 12, 1963) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player who played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

as an infielder.

College

After leading

Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city and county seat of Bay County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and it is the principal city of the Bay City Metrop ...

All Saints Central High School to a

state championship in , Miller was selected in the 24th round of the

1981 Major League Baseball draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1981 Major League Baseball draft. Compensation Picks Other notable players *Darrin Jackson, 2nd round, 28th overall by the Chicago Cubs *Mike Gallego, 2nd round, 33 ...

by the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

, but opted to attended Oral Roberts University, instead. He was drafted in the second round of the

1984 Major League Baseball draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1984 Major League Baseball draft. Other notable players * Jeff Blauser†, 1st round (secondary phase), 4th overall by the Atlanta Braves * Greg Maddux‡, 2nd round, 31s ...

by the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

for $75,000, however, the contract was voided when the Yankees were made aware of a knee injury Miller suffered at ORU. He signed with the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

as an amateur

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in September for $50,000.

New York Mets

Miller was a second baseman with some experience at third when he came up with the Mets in June of . He went 2-for-4 with a run scored in his major league debut on his way to hits in each of his first seven games. At the end of the month, he was optioned back to triple A Tidewater with a .366

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

. He came back up that September, and went 4-for-10. Overall, he batted .373. He began the season again with the

Tidewater Tides The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's location on the Chesap ...

in , but joined the Mets by late May. He wasn't as successful as he was the previous season, going 0-for his first-10. He hit his first career home run on July 1 off the Houston Astros'

Jim Deshaies James Joseph Deshaies (born June 23, 1960), also known as "JD", is an American former professional baseball left-handed starting pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for six teams, over the course of 12 big league seasons. He is c ...

, and went 3-for-6 in the

extra innings Extra innings is the extension of a baseball or softball game in order to break a tie. Ordinarily, a baseball game consists of nine regulation innings (in softball and high school baseball games there are typically seven innings; in Little Lea ...

loss to bring his average above .200 for the first time all season. He ended the season with a .214 average, the one home run and five

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

. On October 1, he made his debut as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

. He handled the one ball hit to him (a line out by

Tom Pagnozzi Thomas Alan Pagnozzi (born July 30, 1962) is an American former professional baseball player. He played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career as a catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, from through . A three-time Gold Glove Award w ...

) cleanly. His season mirrored the previous season; he was called up from Tidewater in late May, and batted .231 with one home run and seven RBIs. In September, he began seeing more playing time in the

outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In cricket, baseball a ...

, and actually began the season as the Mets' starting center fielder. That idea was pretty much abandoned after the Mets acquired

Daryl Boston Daryl Lamont Boston (born January 4, 1963) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder, and the current first base coach for the Chicago White Sox. No. 7 overall pick Boston was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the first round (seve ...

from the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

, however, 1990 turned out to be the one full season of Miller's career in which he logged more innings in the outfield (423.1) than the

infield Infield is a sports term whose definition depends on the sport in whose context it is used. Baseball In baseball, the diamond, as well as the area immediately beyond it, has both grass and dirt, in contrast to the more distant, usually grass-c ...

(69). His best season as a Met turned out to be , when he batted .280 with four home runs and 23 RBIs, all career highs to that point.

Kansas City Royals

At the

Winter meetings Representatives of all 30 Major League Baseball teams and their 120 Minor League Baseball affiliates convene for four days each December in the Winter Meetings to discuss league business and conduct off-season trades and transactions. Attendees in ...

, he was part of a blockbuster deal in which he, Gregg Jefferies and Kevin McReynolds were traded to the Kansas City Royals for two time Cy Young Award winner Bret Saberhagen and infielder Bill Pecota. The Royals got off to an 0-7 start. They were being no hit by Miller's former Mets teammate

Ron Darling Ronald Maurice Darling Jr. (born August 19, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player and current television sports color commentator. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right-handed pitcher from to , most notably as a m ...

(now with the Oakland Athletics) in the eighth game of the season until Miller led off the eighth with a single. Darling was pulled from the game after that play, and replaced by

Rick Honeycutt Frederick Wayne Honeycutt (born June 29, 1954) is an American former professional baseball coach and pitcher. Honeycutt pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for six different teams over 21 years, from 1977 to 1997. He pitched in 30 post-season ...

. The Royals rallied for three runs off Honeycutt for their first win of the season. Miller was in left field that day, but he was shifted back to his natural position at second base by the end of April to replace the slumping Terry Shumpert. His first season in Kansas City, Miller had a career year. Batting lead off or in the number two hole for most of the season, he batted .284 and tied his career high four home runs. He also had career highs in games (106) runs (57) and RBIs (38). During the off season, the Royals dealt Jeffries to the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, and shifted Miller to third. The season got off to a rough start for Miller. After injuring himself running out a fly ball in the first game of the season, Miller went into an 0-for-25 slump. He was batting .163 when he was sent down to triple A Omaha in the beginning of June. He returned in late August in a far more limited role, and batted .179 the rest of the way. saw Miller play just twenty games due to injury. In fifteen games at Omaha, he batted .184 with three RBIs. He went 2-for-15 in five major league games with one run scored. After a similarly limited season, he retired.

Career statistics

His experience with the Yankees as a young athlete inspired Miller to become a sports agent. Among his notable clients with Aces Inc. are

David Wright David Allen Wright (born December 20, 1982) is an American former professional baseball third baseman who played his entire 14-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career for the New York Mets. He was drafted by the Mets in 2001 MLB draft and made h ...

Brandon Inge Charles Brandon Inge ( ; born May 19, 1977) is an American former professional baseball third baseman and catcher and currently a volunteer assistant coach for the Michigan Wolverines baseball team. He played 12 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, on ...

and

Scott Rolen Scott Bruce Rolen (born April 4, 1975) is an American former professional baseball third baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds. He was an eight-t ...

References

External links

, o
The Ultimate Mets Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Keith Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball outfielders Baseball players from Michigan 1963 births Living people New York Mets players Kansas City Royals players Oral Roberts Golden Eagles baseball players Sportspeople from Midland, Michigan Pan American Games medalists in baseball Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Baseball players at the 1983 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1983 Pan American Games Jackson Mets players Lynchburg Mets players Mat-Su Miners players Omaha Royals players Tidewater Tides players