Cardinals Pitchers To Battle For Starting Jobs At Spring Training

— Shelby Miller still doesn’t have an answer for the World Series’ biggest mystery, more than two months after it ended.

The St. Louis Cardinals right-hander said he never found out why he didn’t pitch against the Boston Red Sox, whether it was in a starting role or out of the bullpen.

“The only real conversation I had was when we played Pittsburgh,” Miller said during the Cardinals Caravan, which made its annual stop Saturday at Missouri Southern State University. “They told me I would be in the bullpen for that series, and I never got out of the bullpen. The four starters were doing great, and sometimes we threw three guys.

“I guess they never had time for me, but that’s in the past now.”

Miller’s only postseason appearance was a one-inning stint during Game 2 of the National League Division Series against Pittsburgh. This came after an impressive regular season, where he was 15-9 with a 3.06 ERA — good for 10th in the National League — and finished third in the NL Rookie of the Year voting.

The 23-year-old is in an interesting situation weeks before he and his teammates head to Jupiter, Fla., to begin spring training. St. Louis has a surplus of starting pitching with Miller, Adam Wainwright, Joe Kelly, Lance Lynn and Michael Wacha all back, then veteran left-hander Jaime Garcia returns after missing all of last season following shoulder surgery.

“Obviously, there are some of the guys who already have spots locked up,” Miller said. “I really don’t know what (Cardinals manager) Mike (Matheny) and his staff have in mind. There might be some guys that could wind up in the bullpen or in the minors.”

Kelly, also in attendance at the Cardinals Caravan, also made a strong case to be in the starting rotation.

The 25-year-old righthander was 9-3 with a 2.28 ERA in his 15 starts after he moved out of the bullpen in July. His overall 2.69 ERA put him ninth among all Major League Baseball pitchers with at least 100 innings pitched.

“It’s something we’ll have to go and figure out down in Florida,” Kelly said. “It’s something we’re all excited to do, so it’s never a bad thing.”

Kelly started the infamous Game 3 of the World Series. That game will be remembered for Boston third baseman Will Middlebrooks being called for obstruction, which allowed Allen Craig scoring the winning run. The Red Sox, however, came back and won the next three games.

“We played some good baseball,” Kelly said. “It was just some timely things that we didn’t have going for us.”

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