Seattle Mariners fans amazed by rookie pitcher Bryce Miller's historically great start to MLB career: "Cartoonishly nonsensical numbers"

Seattle Mariners pitcher Bryce Miller has gotten off to a fantastic start to his MLB career. Through five games, Miller has compiled a 3-1 record with a 1.15 ERA and a 0.511 WHIP.

Miller has thrown 31.1 innings while allowing just 17 batters to reach base. Nobody in the last 100 years has gone 30-plus innings in their first five starts while keeping that many batters off base.

Miller isn't doing anything fancy. He's just overpowering batters with his fastball. No other pitcher uses their fastball more than Miller does. He has a 67.7% fastball usage rate. Michael Kopech of the Chicago White Sox is the only other pitcher who comes close with his 63.3% fastball usage rate.

Miller's fastball average is 95 mph, but his spin rate is elite. His elite spin rate gives his fastball a rising effect that can throw off a batter. Most are used to fastballs coming down, not rising.

Seattle Mariners fans are ecstatic with the path Bryce Miller is on. They believe they have a future star in the making.

Fans are expecting Miller to keep this up. They're looking for him to be a contender for the American League Rookie of the Year. That's an award he could run away with if he keeps pitching like this all season.

Bryce Miller and this Seattle Mariners rotation may not be enough to keep them afloat

The Seattle Mariners have a loaded pitching rotation with the emergence of Bryce Miller. He pairs well with Luis Castillo, Marco Gonzalez, Logan Gilbert and George Kirby. However, they'll be without Robbie Ray, who underwent Tommy John surgery after his first start of the season.

They'll need their pitching to keep them in games, as the team has been inconsistent on offense this year. Seattle has a team batting average of .230, ranking them 24th in the league. Teams like the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds have a higher team batting average than the Mariners.

Their inconsistent offense has led to their 25-24 record, which ranks them fourth in the American League West. They're six games behind the division-leading Texas Rangers.

Seattle needs to figure it out and do so soon. It may be left in the dust with the way its division looks.

About the author

Jared "Bloomy" Bloom is a journalist covering Major League Baseball at Sportskeeda and a former college baseball pitcher from Illinois, who just graduated with a Master's degree in Sport Psychology.

A writer with over 3 years of experience, Jared is consistently more concerned with quality than quantity, thoroughly checking multiple sources of information, and prides himself in being knowledgeable not just about MLB, but the game of baseball in general. He loves breaking down plays and game-changing moments, as well as looking closer into players' statistics.

Jared is a die-hard Chicago White Sox fan, and one of his earliest memories is seeing his great-grandfather, a huge Sox fan, in his rocking chair watching a game. Jared started playing from the age of 5 with his grandfather coaching him early on.

Jared loved Tim Lincecum for his quirky delivery and looked up to him as a role model when playing. His current favorite is Phillies star Bryce Harper, an exciting player who doesn't let injuries hold him back. Jared's favorite sports moment is Mark Buehrle's opening day between-the-legs glove flip to first base in 2010.

When he is not watching or writing about baseball, Jared can be found racing BMX at his local Rockford BMX track or coaching his local youth travel baseball team.

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