Spencer Miles takes the ball for the Toronto Blue Jays Tuesday night against San Francisco, the team that allowed him to depart for nothing seven months ago.
The 25-year-old right-hander now owns one of the best earned-run averages on Toronto’s staff, turning a discarded prospect into another failed roster decision for the Giants.
Miles works as the primary arm in a likely bullpen game setup for Game 2 of the series at Oracle Park against the organization where his professional career began. San Francisco picked him in the fourth round of the 2022 draft, 136th overall, out of Missouri, and signed him for $347,500.
Miles threw a total of 14â innings across three seasons in the Giants organization, missing all of 2023 after back surgery, then blowing out his elbow in June 2024 and undergoing Tommy John surgery. San Francisco left him unprotected in the Rule 5 draft that December, betting his injury history outweighed his upside.
MLB rules around the Rule 5 draft require Toronto to carry Miles on its 26-man roster for the entire 2026 season or offer him back to San Francisco for $50,000, a condition that has deterred plenty of teams from taking fragile arms in previous drafts.
Spencer Miles Turned a Reclamation Job Into a Rotation Staple
GettyManager John Schneider of the Toronto Blue Jays announced his pitching decision for the Giants series opener.
But Toronto took a shot. The Blue Jays grabbed Miles in the Dec. 10, 2025, Rule 5 draft after he struck out 12 batters over 8 2/3 innings in the Arizona Fall League, flashing a four-pitch mix and a fastball that reportedly touched 98 mph, according to Jays Journal’s Matthew Sookram. He made Toronto’s Opening Day roster off essentially no professional track record and debuted March 28 against Oakland.
Through 24 appearances, including two starts, Miles carries a 2.83 ERA, a 1.04 WHIP and 55 strikeouts over 54 innings. And he is only getting better, with a 0.68 ERA and 16 strikeouts across his previous seven outings. Sookram noted Miles induces ground balls 55.9 percent of the time, a mark in the 95th percentile league-wide, while limiting hard contact in the 92nd percentile.
San Francisco Giants Watch Their Miss Play Out at Oracle
Toronto enters Tuesday at 42-49, in third place in the American League East and losers of two straight, still shorthanded with Max Scherzer on the 15-day injured list and reliever Yimi Garcia on the 60-day injured list. Every inning Miles provides matters for a rotation running thin on healthy arms, and the Blue Jays have leaned on him across every role imaginable, including long relief, an opener, and now a bulk-innings starter.
San Francisco, meanwhile, sits at 38-52, fourth in the NL West and reportedly weighing a sell-off before the trade deadline. The Giants took a 10-1 series-opening win Monday behind their offense, but facing Miles across the diamond is a nightly reminder of what their pitching pipeline let walk out the door for nothing back in December. Toronto has no such regrets.
What began as a low-cost Rule 5 flier has turned into one of the most captivating success stories in the American League this season. Miles has done it without a marquee prospect pedigree, without a guaranteed roster spot entering spring training, and largely without notice outside Toronto. Tuesday’s start against the organization that gave up on him only adds another chapter to that story.
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