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Spencer Miles dazzled during a rookie season few saw coming

Photo credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

By Michael Coyle

Oct 21, 2026, 11:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 20, 2026, 22:24 EDT

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While so much went wrong for the Toronto Blue Jays during the 2026 season, one quiet addition during the winter led to a success story that no one saw coming.

In December 2025, the Blue Jays selected Spencer Miles in the Rule 5 draft, a move that seemed head-scratching at the time as Toronto was coming off a World Series run and Miles had only thrown 14.2 professional innings since being selected by the San Francisco Giants in the fourth round of the 2022 Major League Baseball Draft.

Alas, a strong showing in the Arizona Fall League led to the Blue Jays making the move, which meant Miles would need to stay on the active roster for the duration of the 2026 season or be returned to the Giants organization.

How the year went

Expected to be eased into low-leverage situations, Miles was thrust into work the top of the 11th inning during his big-league debut on March 28 against the Athletics. Miles worked a scoreless frame, including picking up his first strikeout when he got Max Muncy swinging, and was rewarded with the win as the Blue Jays claimed an 8-7 victory in the bottom half of the frame.

After a difficult second outing, Miles seemed destined to have a limited role in the Blue Jays’ bullpen, but the right-hander closed April by quietly turning in a 1.38 ERA across seven appearances.

Even with a strong April, Miles was still a relatively unknown commodity in Toronto, but that all started to change after he was tasked with being an opener on May 10 against the Los Angeles Angels. Miles turned in a pitching line of 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K and required only 38 pitches to get through three dominant frames.

As the month went on and Miles continued to build up his pitch count, the 26-year-old was tasked with starting on May 31 in Baltimore as the rotation started to wear thin with injuries. Miles allowed six earned runs across three innings before spending the entire month of June working as a reliever.

Miles impressed in June with a 1.84 ERA across 14.2 innings, and as injuries remained in the rotation and his pitch count increased, he was tasked with two more starts in July. Miles wasn’t as effective, allowing eight earned runs across eight innings.

From July 17 on, Miles took on two roles for the Blue Jays’ pitching staff. Miles worked as an opener and a high-leverage reliever, which he took comfort in as he continued to embrace his versatility.

“Opening is fun. I mean, it’s kind of like a close in a sense where you’re going out there and airing it out for three to six batters,” Miles said in September while appearing on the 6ix Inning Stretch Podcast. “You might go two innings, so you are just airing it out and then you get the next seven to eight innings to go to the clubhouse, get treatment, armcare, and watch the ballgame.”

On August 11, Miles picked up his first career MLB save in a 5-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Miles worked around a one-out double by getting both Ceddanne Rafaela and Adley Rutschman to ground out and pick up a milestone in his career.

Across 49 games (eight starts), Miles went 6-2 with a 2.73 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP. The righty struck out 93 batters across 95.2 innings and limited opponents to a .222 average.

Heading into the 2027 campaign, Miles has been projected to receive a shot to work in the Blue Jays’ rotation. Speaking during the last weekend of the regular season, manager John Schneider spoke about the outlook for Miles heading into his first full offseason as a Blue Jay.

“You tack on 20 to 30 [innings] to that next year if all goes well in the off-season, and yeah, that could turn into a No. 5 starter,” Schneider said of Miles’ 2027 outlook. “I think he has the stuff to do it.”

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