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Two rookie pitches named Miller squared off Tuesday, and with the way they competed, you'd think the name itself was on the line. Both took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. One actually left with it still intact.

For Bryce Miller in particular, the performance was revelatory. It was his major-league debut, after all, and all he did was strike out five of the first six batters he faced en route to 10 strikeouts overall. The key to the performance was a rising fastball that he threw 70 percent of the time. Here's how that looked:

Of course, Mason Miller also gave us reason to marvel. He completed seven hitless innings before turning things over to the bullpen. Forget the no-hit aspect for a second. Just the fact he made it through seven after only once going five in his entire professional career, majors and minors combined, opens up a new world of possibilities for him. And while he's mostly earned plaudits for his fastball, his slider was the weapon of choice in this one. Here's how that looked:

Needless to say, both Millers are prime targets off the waiver wire wherever they're still available (which is far more the case for Bryce than for Mason). But which is the higher priority? And how would Diamondbacks prospect Brandon Pfaadt, confirmed for his debut Wednesday, compare? 

Possible waiver wire pickups
SEA Seattle • #50 • Age: 25
Rostered
19%
Tuesday at Athletics
INN
6
H
2
ER
1
BB
0
K
10
Between the Millers who dominated Tuesday, my pick is Bryce. True, he was facing an Athletics team that's the butt of every joke this year, but the poise he showed in his major-league debut was just off the charts. I mean, he was perfect through five. He struck out five of the first six batters he faced. He left without issuing a single walk. Surely, he'll endure some growing pains at some point, but initial returns suggest he's here to stay. One item of note is that he threw his fastball 70 percent of the time, and it's reasonable to wonder if such predictability would play as well against better lineups. But that fastball is the optimal shape for the modern game, with a vertical approaching angle designed for maximizing whiffs. Its heavy use may well be a feature, not a bug.
OAK Oakland • #19 • Age: 25
Rostered
69%
Tuesday vs. Mariners
INN
7
H
0
ER
0
BB
4
K
6
You'd think that Mason Miller's performance against the Mariners Tuesday, in which he allowed no hits over seven innings, was exactly the sort we were hoping to see from the hard-throwing right-hander, but I have a few gripes. The first is that his average velocity was down 2 mph on each of his top two pitches, the fastball and slider, so that was weird. And lest you think he took something off to improve his command, he still issued four walks and threw just 54 percent of his pitches for strikes, which is icky. He also came away without a win, something the Athletics have yet to provide any of their starting pitchers this year. That's a problem. So why do I recommend adding Miller? Well, he made it through seven innings and was, in a word, unhittable. Let's not overthink it.
ARI Arizona • #32 • Age: 25
Rostered
63%
2023 Minors
W-L
2-1
ERA
3.91
WHIP
1.18
INN
25.1
BB
6
K
30
In the excitement of Tuesday's epic showdown between Bryce Miller and Mason Miller, let's not lose sight of the fact that an even more prominent pitching prospect, Brandon Pfaadt, was confirmed for his major-league debut Wednesday. His minor-league track record may not blow you away, but the Diamondbacks system is a notoriously difficult place to pitch. That's particularly true of Triple-A Reno, with its high elevation. While Drey Jameson and Ryne Nelson each had an ERA over 5.00 at that stop last year, Pfaadt's was 2.63, which also puts his 3.91 ERA this year into perspective. His velocity is fairly modest, but don't underestimate his capacity to miss bats. His 218 strikeouts last year were the most for any minor-league pitcher since 2001.
NYM N.Y. Mets • #22 • Age: 24
Rostered
76%
2023 Stats
AVG
.333
HR
2
OPS
.919
AB
39
BB
3
K
12
Brett Baty is rostered in a sizable portion of CBS Sports leagues already, so I guess my point in including him here is that he's about to matter in even the shallowest formats. Sitting against lefties has held him back so far, but he got the start against the last one the Mets faced -- Max Fried, no less. And then on Monday, he hit a home run off a lefty, a scalding 108-mph shot. He hit another ball 106 mph off a lefty in that game. My suspicion (hope?) is that the performance was enough to move manager Buck Showalter over the fence he's been straddling, and if that's the case, Baty might be top 10 at third base the rest of the way.
CLE Cleveland • #28 • Age: 25
Rostered
71%
2023 Stats
W-L
1-0
ERA
2.45
WHIP
0.91
INN
11
BB
0
K
13
Tanner Bibee's second start went much like the first. He lasted between five and six innings, didn't walk anybody, and left his team in a position to win (though the Guardians didn't come through for him this time). As with his rookie teammate, Logan Allen, it's been so business-like that you could almost sleep through it, but of course, reliability has been in short supply at starting pitcher this year. The Guardians organization has become a pitching factory, and these two are just the latest off the line. If I had one gripe about Bibee, it's that the whiffs have been lacking so far, but with a fastball that pushes triple digits and a slider with big-time spin, that's certain to change. He did have 11.3 K/9 in the minors the last two years, after all.
PIT Pittsburgh • Age: 31
Rostered
61%
Monday vs. Guardians
INN
8.1
H
2
ER
1
BB
1
K
6
Domingo German finally got some results to go with his whiffs Monday, two-hitting the Guardians over 8 1/3 innings. It brought his ERA down to a still-suspect 4.46, and because he tends toward hard contact, his 4.41 xERA isn't much better. But those whiffs are something else. In fact, his 16.7 percent swinging-strike rate so far is bettered only by Jacob deGrom, Shane McClanahan and Spencer Strider. How's that for elite company? It's more likely German continues to give up hard contact than continues to hang with that group, but if he remains a whiff standout, albeit a lesser one, you can live with an ERA in the mid-to-high threes. That's where I think he's ultimately headed.
BOS Boston • #16 • Age: 27
Rostered
53%
2023 Stats
AVG
.396
HR
2
SB
2
OPS
1.093
AB
53
K
15
Jarren Duran started out as a contact-and-speed guy in the minors, then went all Willie Mays Hayes and tried hitting the ball out of the park for a couple years. He's tweaked his profile so many times that it's only appropriate to view him with some apprehension, but where he's ultimately landed may be the best of all worlds. He's making more contact (24.6 percent strikeout rate), he's making higher-quality contact (80th percentile average and max exit velocity), and he's doing it with an optimal launch angle, his 32.5 percent ground-ball giving him line drives and fly balls aplenty. Given all that, you can understand why he's maintained a batting average near .400 so far, and he also shows the makings for more home runs and stolen bases.
WAS Washington • #13 • Age: 28
Rostered
25%
2023 Stats
AVG
.290
HR
3
SB
2
OBP
.362
OPS
.830
AB
62
Some of us have been waiting five years for Nick Senzel to be Fantasy-relevant, and now may be the closest he's come since arriving with all the hype of a top prospect in 2019. OK, so the case isn't ironclad. His average exit velocity is in the 6th percentile, and he's spent more of his major-league career on the IL than off it. But he's getting everyday at-bats, showing a good batting eye, taking advantage of a homer-friendly park when he elevates the ball, and generally producing, albeit over a small sample. If you're holding out for a hero, it's probably not him, but if you're hurting for help in the outfield or at third base, you could do worse.