Giants' Rule 5 Draft blunder looks worse every time Spencer Miles pitches for Blue Jays

Spencer Miles has been a revelation for the Toronto Blue Jays. He's basically come out of nowhere and has emerged as one of the best pitchers on Toronto's staff this season. The 25-year-old right-hander has now accumulated 54 innings of big league ball under his belt and has pitched to a 2.83 ERA, 2.98 FIP and is 4-1 with a 9.17 K/9 rate in 24 games (including two starts).

His latest outing further cemented his stats as one of the Blue Jays' most reliable arms as he tossed three innings of one hit ball against the New York Mets on Wednesday (Ju. 1) helping Toronto to a 9-3 Canada Day win over the NL East basement dwellers. Miles came into the game in the second inning after opener Braydon Fisher and proceeded to allow just one walk, while striking out five of the 11 batters he faced.

The Blue Jays gave him quite the cushion to work with - they put up a four spot in the bottom of the third and led the Mets 5-0 until the seventh. But it's the kind of outing that could have gone sideways, as so many other outings have gone for Blue Jays pitchers this year. Instead, Miles completely squeezed the life out of the Mets batters and made sure that the Blue Jays lead wasn't even going to be challenged.

While Toronto (41-46) don't have a ton to boast about this season, they can at least prop up Miles as a shining light compared to the team that basically gave up on him just a few months ago. The San Francisco Giants are likely cringing every time they see Miles go to the mound in Toronto. The NL West ball club decided to expose Miles during the Rule 5 Draft in December (2025) and the Blue Jays jumped all over the chance to bring him into the fold.

A decision that is likely haunting the Giants right now as they are sitting in second last in their division at 36-50 and are contemplating a full on fire sale at this year's deadline.

Giants decision to dangle Miles had some merit

There were some warning signs around Miles before the Blue Jays plucked him from the Giants though. He was drafted in 2022 in the fourth round by San Fran and in the three years he was in the Giants' system, he pitched a grand total of 14.2 innings. He underwent two major surgeries in that time, including Tommy John surgery.

But when the Blue Jays scooped him up, there were some signs to point to that indicated Miles could make an impact on the major league ball club. He made five appearances in the Arizona fall league, striking out 12 batters in 8.2 innings and offered a four-pitch mix with a fastball that was ratcheting up to 98.2 mph.

Jays Journal wrote at the time that he had an outside chance to make the team, but would likely be competing with another Rule 5 Draft choice that was also a reclamation project in Angel Bastardo, whom the Blue Jays drafted in the 2024 version of the draft from the Boston Red Sox. Bastardo spent all of 2025 rehabbing in the Blue Jays system, but when it came to spring training 2026, he was edge out by Miles.

And there is no regrets from the Blue Jays at all on that choice now. Miles has provided the Blue Jays with so much value from his position in the bullpen and he's getting hitters out while increasingly building up his repetoire. He is getting opponents to hit ground balls 55.9% of the time, which ranks in the 95th percentile, and opponents average exit velocity of 86.2 ranks in the 92nd percentile.

With the Giants searching for pitching talent this season, they sure let a talented pitcher get away for nothing.

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