Aidan Miller is one of the top Phillies prospects. (Cheryl Pursell)
PHILADELPHIA — In his Opening Day address, Bryce Harper seemed to embrace the possibility that 2025 would be the final year with the core that had largely been together since the 2022 season started.
"It's an opportunity to do it, possibly with guys who might not be here next year," Harper said after the Opening Day win. "It's a real possibility. Obviously, I want guys back and to keep plugging along and going with the group, but it's a real possibility that won't happen.
"So we're just gonna play it, see how the season goes and obviously our main goal is to get in the postseason and make a long run."
Part of Harper's quote was recognizing that Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto and Ranger Suárez were entering contract years. Part of it was pointing out the reality that Bryson Stott, Brandon Marsh and Alec Bohm all had something to prove in 2025. But you also came away with the feeling that Harper realized that the 1.0 Era of his time with the Phillies was probably coming to a close.
Many of those figures will, the Phillies hope, continue to be part of Harper 2.0. The Phillies also hope that Harper will return to elite production in 2026, after a more modest 2025. Either way, the Phillies need their next wave of talent to come through.
That was one of the main themes of Dave Dombrowski's year-end press conference Thursday, with the president of baseball operations even citing Aidan Miller, who many assumed previously was more in play for the second half of 2026 or early 2027.
"We also have some young players that we're going to mesh into our club, leave [spots] open," Dombrowski said. "I'm not going to declare that anybody has a job, but there will be some people that we're really open-minded to being with our big-league club next year coming out of Spring Training. Justin Crawford is one of them. Andrew Painter is another. Otto Kemp is another one. I wouldn't even preclude Aidan Miller from being that type of guy."
Does that mean that Miller will be in the lineup for the Phillies when they host the Texas Rangers on March 26 to begin their season? No. Frankly, it feels like a longshot when Miller, 21, only has eight games under his belt at Triple-A.
But Dombrowski's quote might be an indication that the Phillies don't necessarily feel Miller needs to spend the entire 2026 season at Triple-A if he continues to produce.
Aidan Miller sure looks like a shortstop 🤯 pic.twitter.com/pkoW5JvcKu
At 6-foot-1, 205 pounds, there have long been questions about whether Miller will stick at shortstop or need to slide to another infield spot. But according to Dombrowski, the former first-round pick continues to pass all tests at his natural position.
"Going into the season, we thought he might be able to play shortstop, but we weren't sure, just based on his size and he hadn't been with us that long" Dombrowski acknowledged.
"There came no question when I talked to people in our organization they feel he can play shortstop."
As Dombrowski later noted, the Phillies "have an All-Star shortstop at this point" in Trea Turner. Not only did Turner just win the National League batting title, but he made massive defensive improvements in 2025, finishing the season with two defensive runs saved and 16 outs above average. At least for the time being, Turner has squashed any questions about him moving to another spot on the diamond. He's going to be the shortstop for the Phillies.
The Phillies, though, continue to be impressed — perhaps even more than they expected to be — by Miller's athleticism. Not only was he an on-base machine with 82 walks between Double-A Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley this past season, but he was a real threat when he got on the bases. Miller swiped 59 bags in 2025, a significant increase from the 23 he stole across three levels of the minors in 2024.
Miller being a legitimate basestealer not only increases his offensive value, but that athleticism makes the Phillies confident he'll be able to adjust to another spot in the infield if need be.
"He stole over 50 bases. I never would have anticipated he had that type of speed," Dombrowski admitted. "He actually gained speed, which is unusual.
"But he could play other positions, I don't have any question about that," Dombrowski continued. "Now, how you do that, how you go about it, I'm not sure yet that we have that answer. Because a lot of times with a young player ... he's played some second, he's played some third, but he's primarily been a shortstop. So we'd have to make sure that we properly prepared him to do that. And that's still a discussion that we'll have to have. And he's a really good player and a good athlete. And he can hit."
Third base has been the position it's assumed that Miller will slide to if he moves away from shortstop. You can increasingly see a path forward for Miller at the hot corner.
Alec Bohm is projected by MLB Trade Rumors to make $10.3 million in his final year of arbitration eligibility. He's too good to non-tender, but that's a hefty price to pay for someone that posted a .741 OPS this past year. Bohm feels like an obvious trade candidate this winter, probably even more than he was a year ago.
Otto Kemp appears poised to take on larger role for Phillies in 2026
[image or embed]— Tim Kelly (@timkellysports.bsky.social) October 17, 2025 at 12:01 PM
A trade of Bohm wouldn't mean Miller is the Opening Day third baseman. The way the Phillies talked up Otto Kemp Thursday, he might be the leader in the clubhouse for that spot.
But if Kemp — either because of his offensive production, defensive production or some combination of both — doesn't cut it as an everyday third baseman and Miller gets off to a quick start at Triple-A, who knows.
"And I know there's a lot of talk about Aidan Miller, he's come very quickly," Rob Thomson said. "So it'll be very interesting next Spring Training, because those guys, they're on the doorstep. And a couple of them [Crawford and Painter] are ready to go. So we'll see."
