FORT MYERS, Fla. – More than 430 underclass prospects – players from the high school graduating classes of 2018 through 2021 – arrived at the jetBlue Park Player Development Complex Wednesday morning to begin their participation at the 2016 Perfect Game National Underclass Showcase-Main Event.
It is mostly players from the classes of 2018 and 2019 that are competing over the event’s three-day run, and while many of the 2018s were back for a second appearance at the showcase, quite a few of the 2019s – high school sophomores – were making their Main Event debuts.
An exception is Tallahassee, Fla., shortstop Josiah Miller, a slick-fielding, hard-hitting, 6-foot, 180-pound sophomore at Tallahassee’s Lincoln High School. Miller, ranked the No. 38 overall national prospect in the class of 2019, is back at the Underclass-Main Event for the second straight year, and feeling very good about being here.
“This is a different experience for me because this is my second year doing this showcase,” he told PG Wednesday morning after taking part in the showcase’s workout session. “Last year it was just seeing what it was like and trying to look good and look like you know what you’re doing, but this year for me it’s now just have fun, stay frosty and let it loose. … This year I’m just much more relaxed, laid back and just playing the game I know how to play, which is a relaxed game and slowing everything down.”
Although this is the second time Miller has attended the PG National Underclass Main Event he is far from a showcase veteran – the Main Event is the only PG showcase he’s ever attended. He’s more than made up for that hole in his resume by attending close to 20 PG tournaments since May 2015 playing with Guerry Baldwin’s East Cobb Astros outfit, and earning all-tournament recognition at 10 of them.
He enjoys the showcase environment, however, because it provides opportunities for a young prospect to show what he can do both individually and as part of a team. He works under the unshakable belief that even the most gifted, five-tool players won’t succeed unless they can prove they know how to play in taught game situations and their actions, in turn, lead to the team being successful.
“I thought it was important for me to come back and say, hey, this is my year, this my sophomore year, and it’s time to get myself on the radar; time to step it up and get serious,” Miller said. “I’ve been working for the past 15 weeks just for this showcase, just trying to get my arm-speed up; get my 60 time up. I just want to prove that I’m a hard-working athlete and I dedicate my life to this game.”
Josiah Miller is here with his dad, Ron Miller, who played basketball at Florida State University in the late 1980s and early 1990s – a childhood dream realized for the Tallahassee native. Upon graduation, he stayed on at the school as a strength and conditioning coach for the next eight years and has continued in that line of work as a strength and conditioning coach at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. He is also a pastor at Go2Church in Tallahassee, which he considers his fulltime job.
Ron Miller felt it was important for his son to be at the Under-Main Event as a 15-year-old in 2015 so he could become familiar with showcase baseball on one of the biggest – in terms of the number of participants – underclass stages in the country. That way, the reasoning went, he could come in as a 16-year-old much more relaxed and confident, and really show the extensive Perfect Game scouting staff how much he deserves that No. 38 national ranking.
“Coming back this year, I told him, ‘Hey, you’ve worked hard and you’ve put yourself in a good spot so just come out here and do what you can do, and just relax and enjoy it,” Ron Miller said. “He gets re-energized here at the end of the year, and going into the (high school) baseball season at the end of January, this something that’s been a goal of ours, to finish 2016 strong and go into 2017 ready to play.”
Miller’s workout session Wednesday morning was Top Prospect List worthy (he was named to the TPL last year as a freshman). He threw 88 mph across the infield, an effort that tied for the third-best at the event, and ran a 6.75-second 60-yard dash, the event’s ninth-best effort (both were better than the efforts he posted last year). A PG scout also said the switch-hitting Miller turned in one of the best batting practice performances of the morning; his game is well-suited for the showcase structure.
“I’m an out-going guy and I like the social aspect of this; I like talking to people,” Miller said. “This is just fun for me and I like taking it all in and really enjoying the environment and just seeing all the sights. Playing here with all these superior athletes, it’s just fun; there’s no other way to describe it.”
The Millers got involved with East Cobb Baseball through retired ECB coach Dave Roberts, who was playing football at FSU during the same years Ron Miller was on the Seminoles’ basketball team. Ron Miller said that initially they didn’t fully comprehend the magnitude of what they were becoming involved with by joining ECB, but it turned out to be one of the best baseball decisions the family has made.
“He’s developed some great friendships with his teammates … and we feel very fortunate to be a part of that organization,” Ron Miller said.
Josiah Miller calls his association with Baldwin and the East Cobb Astros a “blessing” because of the way Baldwin took the youngster under his wing and helped him develop into the young prospect that he is today.
Being involved with ECB has afforded the 16-year-old Miller with the opportunity to surround himself with some of the best players in his age-group, just like this week’s Under-Main Event is doing. Being around and interacting with other top prospects will only elevate his own game, Miller believes, which in turn will lead only to bigger and better things.
He credits his father and his late grandfather, Ron Miller Sr., for keeping him motivated moving forward. Ron Miller has been very straight-forward in telling his son that he feels like he can achieve great things in baseball, and his grandfather was always in attendance at his games, offering encouragement just with his presence. The family lost Ron Miller Sr. to cancer two years ago, and Josiah Miller makes sure he plays the game as hard as he can every time he steps on the field in honor of his grand-dad’s memory.
“One of the most enjoyable things for me is just seeing how hard he works. He’s embraced the process of working hard and trying to become the best he can be,” Ron Miller said. “One day we woke up and found out that he was nationally ranked, and we never really set out for any of that. We just said, ‘Let’s try to be the best that you can be’ and for him how to kind of enjoy the fruits of his labor, that’s really rewarding. … I’m just really proud of how hard he’s worked.”
Josiah Miller has not yet committed to a college and obviously has all the time in the world to do so. Having been an NCAA Division I athlete himself, Ron Miller thought he’d be prepared to help his son through the recruiting process, but he was caught off-guard by how soon he’d have to deal with it.
Colleges began showing interest in Josiah after his 14-year-old season, or at the same time the young prospect was thinking only about making the varsity team at his high school. College seemed a long way off.
“That was kind of a wake-up moment; I didn’t have any idea it started that early,” Ron Miller said. “We backed it up a little bit because I just thought there were other things he needed to focus on, like continuing to get better … and keeping some of his short-term goals a real priority.”
Now that Josiah is a sophomore in high school, the family is ready to move forward again. He has three more seasons of high school baseball in front of him, plenty of time for colleges to get their looks at him and for him to take a good, long look at his suitors. There will certainly be truckloads of SkillShow and PG scout video for the college coaches to view and plenty of reports for them to read from this event, and the Millers are intent on taking full advantage of this resource.
“(Josiah’s mother) Cindy and I, we just really wanted him to enjoy this experience,” Ron Miller said. “Want him to relax and be confident knowing that he’s worked hard, and go out and do what he can do and just have fun with it. We’re grateful to be a part of Perfect Game – Perfect Game is a great organization – and it’s certainly given him the opportunity to get exposure and things like that. We’re just trying to soak it all in and milk the moment and just enjoy it while we can.”
Miller’s second go-around at the PG National Underclass Showcase-Main Event will reach its conclusion early Friday afternoon, and as he’s making his way back to Tallahassee he will only hope that he has managed to leave his mark and maybe opened some eyes with his performance.
He wants to leave the impression that he is the type of athlete who works hard, knows what he’s doing with a ball or a bat or a glove in his hand and is a good teammate who excels not only on the field but in the classroom (3.92 GPA) and in life in general.
“I want to be a recruitable guy and make it easy for colleges to look at me,” Miller said. “I have my long-term goal but I set my short-term goals to reach that long-term goal.”
As an example, last year he wanted to make the varsity baseball at Lincoln High School as a freshman, something that had never been done before; he succeeded. His next short-term goal is to win a Florida state championship at Lincoln, because that has never been done before, either; from there, he hopes to sign with a college.
After that, if he’s truly blessed, he wants to play professionally and win an MLB World Series, and continue to play the game as long as it’s physically possible. By making his return to the PG National Underclass Showcase-Main Event and proving to everyone that he continues to get better, he has achieved another one of his short-term goals.