Get To Know Your A's : Brad Mills
As the 2015 baseball season approaches in Nashville, the affiliate switch to the Oakland Athletics' organization brings about excitement. With that excitement comes a fresh batch of talented prospects. In the time leading up to the season, we will elaborate on a few of the different players that could be heading to Nashville and expand on the anticipation of another year of Triple-A baseball.
Brad Mills was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 4th round of the June 2007 Draft. The southpaw's contract was purchased by Oakland from Milwaukee in June of 2014, making him the only holdover from the 2014 Sounds. Mills finished the season with the Blue Jays, but then elected to re-sign with Oakland as a free agent on October 17, 2014.
Mills was a four-year player at the University of Arizona, electing to return for his senior season after Toronto selected him in the 22nd round of the 2006 Draft. He graduated in the top 5% of his senior class with a degree in civil engineering.
Mills spent only 2.5 years in the minors before making his major league debut in 2009. He has bounced back and forth between Triple-A and the big leagues ever since, making major league appearances in every season but 2013.
Mills made two starts against the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009 and was tagged for 12 runs in 7.2 innings. His next MLB start came July 28 the following season vs. Baltimore. The Arizona-native pitched a gem - yielding no runs and just two hits - en route to his first career win.
In 2011, Pacific Coast League managers voted him as having the circuit's best control and changeup. He was elected to start the Triple-A All-Star Game in Salt Lake City. A month later, he would pick up his second big-league win, once again besting Baltimore.
Before the 2012 season, the former top-10 Blue Jays prospect was shipped to the Los Angeles Angels for Jeff Mathis. He would bounce between the Angels and Rangers organizations before making a brief stint for the Orix Buffaloes of the Japanese League.
He regained form with the Sounds in 2014 becoming one of the PCL's top pitchers. His ERA (1.56, 2nd), WHIP (0.92, 2nd), strikeouts (77, 3rd) and average against (.190, 2nd) were near the top of the league before Oakland purchased his contract from Milwaukee.
Mills started the 2015 Cactus League opener for the Oakland Athletics. Should he not make the parent club out of camp, he'll be a welcome returning face in Nashville.