Playing Miller made his minor league debut with the
Lexington Giants of the
Western Carolinas League in 1964. He split time evenly as
starting pitcher and
reliever in his rookie year, starting 18 of the 36 games he pitched that season. He was subsequently acquired by the
Cleveland Indians the following season. Despite winning 16 games with the
Reno Silver Sox of the Class A
California League in 1968, Miller never reached the Major Leagues as a player. with
Portland of the
Pacific Coast League,
Wichita of the
American Association and
Rochester of the
International League from 1969–73. He became a full-time relief pitcher from 1970 season onwards. He finished his minor league career with a 60–65
win–loss record, a 3.50
earned run average (ERA), and 992
strikeouts over 1,012
innings pitched. At the close of the 1977 season, Miller agreed to join the coaching staff of the
Texas Rangers, whose manager was former Baltimore third-base coach
Billy Hunter. But in January 1978, the Orioles' pitching coach position opened unexpectedly when
George Bamberger was named skipper of the
Milwaukee Brewers. Miller was let out of his Ranger contract and succeeded Bamberger as mound tutor of the pennant-contending Orioles. He worked under managers
Earl Weaver and
Joe Altobelli and coached for O's teams that won the
1979 American League championship and the
1983 world title. Miller tutored 20-game-winning pitchers such as
Jim Palmer,
Mike Boddicker,
Mike Flanagan,
Steve Stone, and
Scott McGregor during that period. It was with the Orioles where he began famously instructing his pitchers to "work fast, change speeds, throw strikes." The success of the Orioles' pitching staff made Miller a sought-after managerial candidate and on June 21, 1985, he received his first opportunity.
Billy Gardner, who had led the Twins to a disappointing 27–35 record, was fired and Miller took control of the young Minnesota ballclub. Although the Twins improved to 50–50 over the remainder of the season, they performed so poorly (59–80, .424) in 1986, Miller was replaced as skipper by
Tom Kelly on September 12. Miller returned as pitching coach of the Orioles in 2004–05,
Managerial record ==Later life==