Miller spent the offseason preparing to play shortstop despite strong indications he'll be deployed elsewhere in 2017, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. "My thing is I know it's a long season and a lot can transpire," Miller said. "We've discussed a lot of different things. I'm focused on getting us back to playing winning baseball. So I'm coming to camp ready to work. A lot of it is just talk so far, so I'm excited to get back to actually playing."
Conventional wisdom dictates a move to second base for Miller in the coming season, given Matt Duffy's likely deployment at shortstop. However, that didn't stop Miller from still putting in his offseason preparation at the position he'd held throughout his three-plus major league seasons before Duffy's Rays debut on Aug. 12. Miller emphasized that he and the Rays are "on the same page" with respect to 2017, but he deemed it prudent to keep his shortstop skills sharp this offseason as a contingency plan. Regardless of where he finds himself in the infield, Miller's bat will be heavily counted on again after a breakout 2016 campaign that saw him tally career highs in homers (30), RBI (81), slugging (.482) and OPS (.786).