Corky Miller at Louisville Slugger Field on April 18, 2014. (photo by James Moses)
Corky Miller has been named to the coaching staff of the Cincinnati Reds’ Class A affiliate Dayton Dragons, the team announced Wednesday. Miller, 38, will join manager Jose Nieves, pitching coach Tom Browning and hitting coach Luis Bolivar on Dayton’s staff.
After spending two stints in the Reds organization from his original signing in 1998 through 2004 and from 2009 through the 2014 season, Miller became a fan favorite on both the Triple-A and Major League levels. He retired as the Bats’ all-time leader in games played with 548, besting former Louisville Redbird Bill Lyons’ mark by four games. He played in just 216 Major League games (153 with the Reds), but was invaluable to Cincinnati for handling pitchers as they made their ways to the big club.
Miller is expected to also do some roving around the system as a catching instructor during the season, Reds Director of Player Development Jeff Graupe said in the original announcement posted by the Dragons. This is not unlike what Miller did for the better part of 2014 after going inactive on May 22, spending time between Billings (Rookie) and Dayton.
Aside from the franchise’s games played record, the catcher also is the Bats’ all-time leader in doubles (99) and is third in at-bats (1,703), fifth in hits (416), fourth in home runs (50) and second in RBI (236). His No. 8 became the first number ever retired by the Louisville franchise on August 31, 2014 at the game dubbed Corky Miller Night.
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Speculation for much of Miller’s latter years with the Bats was that he would eventually find his way into a coaching role before, somewhere down the line, earning a managerial job (hopefully in the big leagues). This is certainly the first step.
The news fans in Louisville were wishing to hear since the end of last season was that Miller would be added to the Bats staff (or even, perhaps rather boldly, that he would have been named manager before Delino DeShields was named to the position). Still, this is the perfect starting spot for the former catcher. It is not the most glamorous or highest paid coaching job in the world, but there is no pressure and he will have time to develop his coaching abilities in the minors much like any player develops their playing abilities. Also, fans in Louisville should not be too concerned as it is likely Miller will see time in the Derby City at some point during 2015.
Minor league coaches and managers move… a lot. Anytime there is a change to the big club’s staff, the dominoes fall and minor league staffs are also shuffled. The Reds declining to bring back third base coach Steve Smith opened the door for Jim Riggleman, the Bats manager of the past two seasons, to move up, which opened the door for DeShields to move up, etc. The ascension to a Major League managerial job (for most managers) has many stops along the way and sometimes goes through multiple organizations. This is just where it all begins.