Merced’s Miller named CCC Pitcher of the Year

Mitchell Miller made great strides as a pitcher from his junior season to his senior year.

The Merced High senior ace went 3-1 with a microscopic 0.21 ERA during Central California Conference play, giving up just one earned run in 332/3 innings. It was quite an improvement from his 4.75 ERA as a junior.

The conference coaches took notice, naming Miller the CCC Pitcher of the Year.

“It was pretty overwhelming,” Miller said. “It’s humbling to receive any honor. It’s an accumulation of my whole year. For me, it’s pretty special.”

Miller struck out 38 hitters and only surrendered eight hits and seven walks as CCC hitters compiled an .071 batting average against the right-hander.

“Mitchell always believed in the process,” said Merced coach Justin Parle. “As a junior, he always had the velocity, but his fastball was flat. He developed a two-seamer, a slider that he could throw in any count, and he believed in his change-up.

“He never beat himself. If we lost when he was out there, it was going to be because of a defensive breakdown or we didn’t score enough runs.”

Miller credits the opportunity to work with veteran coach Butch Hughes for a big reason for the turnaround. Hughes has decades of experience as the Merced College head coach before spending years coaching in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ and Colorado Rockies’ organizations.

“He taught me a lot about the mental part of the game and the finer points of pitching,” Miller said. “It’s not every day you get to work with a coach that has his experience, especially his professional experience. There are days where he’s telling me stories about Greg Maddux and other guys. Those are pitchers I grew up idolizing.”

Pitman’s Zach Wichman was named the CCC MVP. Wichman helped lead the Pride to the conference championship by going 5-0 with a 1.27 ERA on the mound. He also drove in 11 runs and scored eight as a hitter.

Turlock’s Brandon Booz was named Offensive Player of the Year after hitting .489 with three home runs, 14 runs and 15 RBIs in CCC play.

Pitman’s John Acha was named Coach of the Year.

Atwater landed three players on the all-CCC first team: pitcher Austin Conour, shortstop Derek Molina and second baseman Jesus Duran.

Merced and Buhach Colony each had two players named to the first team in the Bears’ third baseman Armando Flores and outfielder Nick Camper and Thunder first baseman Kory Woods and designated hitter Logan Coe.

Rounding out the rest of the first team were pitcher Cody Cornell (Turlock), catcher Coleton Horner (Pitman), outfielders Colton Evans (Pitman) and Alex Pallios (Turlock) and utility player Anthony Encalade (Pitman).

Local players earning second-team honors were pitcher Andrew Mitchel (Buhach Colony), catcher Omar Sanchez (Atwater), first baseman Evan Hanneman (Merced), outfielders Julien Sandoval (Buhach Colony) and Lawrence Anderson (Merced), designated hitter Trevor Phillips (Merced) and utility player Mike Casso (Buhach Colony).

This story was originally published May 28, 2015 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Merced’s Miller named CCC Pitcher of the Year."