What's next for Bobby Miller's future with Dodgers after spring training demotion?

While the conversation for the Dodgers' last rotation spot mostly involved Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May, Bobby Miller was on the periphery as a distant possibility. Despite Miller's truly awful 2024 season, he reported to Camelback Ranch and quickly befriended Blake Snell, who committed himself to mentoring Miller in 2025. Maybe with that, and with some adjustments during the offseason and in camp, he'd be able to show some of that promise from 2023 again.

But then Gonsolin got hurt, and Dave Roberts announced May would be the Dodgers' fifth starter in the same breath. Okay, that didn't have to be the end of the world for Miller; he could still get a spot in the bullpen and come in for long relief outings, right?

Nope. On Tuesday, the Dodgers optioned Miller and Hyeseong Kim to Triple-A. Top prospect Dalton Rushing and standout NRIs David Bote and Eddie Rosario were also sent to minor league camp.

This must be frustrating for Miller, especially because, though no fault of his own, he got hurt before he could even record a single out in his first visit to the mound in the spring opener and never returned. The demotion leaves his already murky future still totally unclear.

Bobby Miller's path forward is still unclear after Dodgers demote him to start 2025 in Triple-A

The Dodgers had too many options for the rotation from the get-go, and the last spots in the bullpen started to fill when Roberts confirmed top prospect Ben Casparius was likely to get a shot in one of them. That could've left space for Miller, but the decision likely came down to him and Landon Knack, who wore a lot of different hats for the Dodgers last season and looked better doing it than Miller did after his first start of the season, which was also the best start of his career.

Despite how crowded and stacked their entire roster is, the Dodgers do give some breathing room (maybe more than fans would like) to former top prospects. Miller might be hard to trade for a good return at this point, but the Dodgers are still going to want to see how/if he can bounce back in Triple-A.

At this point, it feels like only way for Miller to get back to the majors is if injury befalls the pitching staff. This is likely to happen and has already started happening, but for now, Miller's just going to have to grind at Triple-A and wait. And that's assuming he handles the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.