How a Derby native with WSU baseball ties helped the Rays to the World Series
Looking for a Wichita connection to the World Series?
Look no further than Steve Miller, a Derby native who is the international scouting director for the Tampa Bay Rays, which play the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the World Series Tuesday evening.
Miller is a former baseball coach-turned-scout who earned his Master’s degree from Wichita State and spent three years on Gene Stephenson’s staff as a volunteer assistant in the 1990s. He also coached as an assistant at Kansas State.
He is part of a growing list of important scouts in Major League Baseball with ties to Wichita, which includes Sean Johnson (Minnesota Twins), David Chadd (Detroit Tigers), Jim Rough (Detroit Tigers) and Greg Miller (Kansas City Royals). The group of Wichita scouts all remain in contact, Miller said.
“I’m still wired in with all of the Wichita State guys,” Miller said. “It’s pretty amazing to look back at the tree that Gene created. We all see each other out on the road scouting and Sean was the first one to call me to congratulate us on making the playoffs. It’s a great group of guys.”
After 13 years of coaching in college, Miller transitioned to scouting in 2006 when he joined the Toronto Blue Jays organization as a regional scout. He joined the Tampa Bay Rays organization as an international scout in 2013 and was promoted to director of international scouting last summer.
He lives in Chicago now and he estimates he’s on the road 240 days in a year, usually in countries like the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico and Panama.
Miller’s claim to fame on the Rays’ World Series roster is relief pitcher Diego Castillo, whom he discovered on a chance meeting in the Dominican Republic.
“It was raining and we were shutting down the workout about ready to leave, then he showed up late and we told him we would watch some bullpen,” Miller said. “The very first pitch was 95 (mph). And then another. And then another. It was like, ‘Man, this guy has a pretty good arm and a good delivery.’”
In international scouting, most of the prospects are 16 or 17 years old. Castillo was 20 at the time and Miller remembers having to lobby hard to convince his scouting director to give a 20-year-old pitcher a contract. In the end, Miller helped the Rays sign Castillo for $64,500.
Castillo immediately took off once arriving in Wichita. His four-seam fastball could touch 100 mph, while he added a two-seam fastball that was averaging 95 mph to go along with a slider that was touching 90 mph.
In his third year in the majors this season, Castillo finished with a 3-0 record, four saves and a 1.66 earned run average in 21 2/3 innings. He registered two saves in Tampa Bay’s ALCS series against Houston.
“There’s definitely a sense of pride before and after the games,” Miller said. “But during the game, I get so nervous because your name as a scout is attached to the player to whatever degree. I love watching him pitch, but those are tough innings to go through. You’re hanging on to every single pitch.”
Miller also helped the Rays acquire outfielder Randy Arozarena, who is from Cuba. While Miller didn’t scout Arozarena himself, he did scout catcher Edgardo Rodriguez, who was part of the package the Rays sent to the St. Louis Cardinals to acquire a starting outfielder in the World Series.
Miller will be in attendance for all of this year’s World Series games as he watches Arozarena and Castillo try to help the Rays win their first championship.
“I was told a long time ago by my mentor in scouting that there are two ways to help your team,” Miller said. “You can help sign big leaguers or you can help sign players you can trade for big leaguers. That’s always stuck with me.”
This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 1:48 PM.
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