San Diego Padres closer Mason Miller has found a way to thrive on one of baseball’s biggest stages while managing a Type 1 diabetes diagnosis that arrived when he was 20 years old.
His fastball grabs the headlines, and for good reason - he consistently reaches over 100 mph. But Dennis Lin of The Athletic dug into another part of Miller’s life that many fans may not know about, and he spoke as well with Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Garrett Mitchell, who also lives with Type 1 diabetes.
For Miller, the condition is part of daily life and part of the example he wants to set. He takes seriously the responsibility of being a role model, and when he meets kids, he makes sure to tell them diabetes does not have to keep them from pursuing big goals.
Miller and Mitchell both wear a glucose monitor from San Diego-based Dexcom U, and the company surveyed people with the disease and found that 54 percent eventually give up sports early because of the challenges that come with managing it.
Miller said there was skepticism around his diagnosis when he was drafted, and that it sometimes influenced where teams placed him on their draft board. He and Mitchell both follow meticulous routines to stay on top of it, and Miller’s version of a cheat day is one slice of pepperoni pizza.
He also leans on fruit bars to keep his blood sugar up, and he has become accustomed to pitching when his blood sugar is higher than ideal, according to Lin. The greater risk, Miller said, is low blood sugar, something that already happened to him in a college game. He also noted that climate affects how much insulin he needs to take.
When he talks to kids who are also Type 1 diabetics, Miller tells them they are never going to have everything fully figured out. Even with the technology and resources available to him, he described managing the condition as an “imperfect science.”
Mitchell pointed to former big league outfielder Sam Fuld as his role model, saying Fuld’s eight-year major league career mattered to him. Miller did not name a specific role model in the piece, but he does have a strong support system behind him, and that backing has helped him deliver an all-world season for San Diego while continuing to show that Type 1 diabetes does not define his ceiling.
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