Mason Miller’s All-Star Game moment carried a weight that went far beyond baseball.
The Padres closer, who missed a three-game stretch earlier this season because of a family matter, used a pause between innings at the All-Star Game to quietly reveal what had been going on. Players were asked to hold up cards with the name of someone they know who has been impacted by cancer, and Miller’s card read “Mom.”
“I’m not looking to super get into it," Miller said. "But I’m going to put it on my sign. So it’s not a secret.”
After the game, Miller traveled to Pittsburgh to visit his mother before rejoining the Padres in Kansas City for the start of a nine-game road trip. The details behind his absence had stayed private until this week.
San Diego had placed Miller on the Bereavement/Family Medical Leave List before its series against the St. Louis Cardinals in June, and the support around him clearly meant a lot during that stretch.
“The guys are really supportive,” Miller said at the time. “… The coaching staff, training staff, players in this locker room and everybody not only has my back, but everybody in this room has each others too. So it’s just really special when you get that opportunity to lean into those people around you.”
Even with everything happening away from the field, Miller has been dominant this season. He has put together a 0.91 ERA across 39.2 innings and has converted all 25 of his save chances.
That kind of production brought early Cy Young buzz and made him the centerpiece of the Padres bullpen. It also fueled talk from some of the game’s top closers, who labeled him the “most unhittable” pitcher in baseball history.
Still, the trade chatter hasn’t gone away. With San Diego’s season at a crossroads, Miller has surfaced in rumors as a possible piece the club could move for multiple prospects to help restock the farm system.
The Yankees have been mentioned as a possible fit, and Miller addressed that noise as the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaches.
“The rumors are what they are,” Miller said. “The Yankees are a good team, and they’re obviously a team that is going to add most years. I think it’s just a compliment in a way that good teams are interested in good players.”
For now, his future is unsettled. Miller has said before that he wants to stay in San Diego, but no extension talks have taken place between the two sides yet.
“No, that hasn’t been really discussed," Miller told Padres On SI in an exclusive conversation earlier this year. "I think they’ve hinted at some interest in it, but to your point, they do have me for the next three years also, so this isn’t something that’s like, ‘This guy’s out of here in a year and a half or this season.’ So I think there’s some comfort in that."
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