Cleveland Indians add Owen Miller as Franmil Reyes heads to injured list with abdominal strain

CLEVELAND, Ohio — After three weeks tearing up Triple-A pitching, Owen Miller will make his major league debut Sunday with the Cleveland Indians.

Miller, 24, was added to the roster after the club placed Franmil Reyes on the 10-day injured list with a left abdominal strain. In a related move, the club shifted catcher Roberto Perez from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day IL following surgery on his right ring finger. The move freed up a spot on the 40-man roster for Miller.

At Columbus, Miller was batting .406 (26-for-64) with five doubles, one triple, two home runs and nine RBI in 16 games. He stood second in Triple-A East Division in hits, third in average, tied for sixth in doubles and total bases (39) and ninth in on-base percentage and OPS.

Miller made a positive impression on Indians manager Terry Francona in training camp where he hit .390 with a home run and six RBI in 24 exhibition appearances.

“We told Owen, he looks to me like he can hit good pitching,” Francona said in March. ”He uses the whole field. He has a knack of being able to bring his hands in and keep the ball fair down the left field line. He’s just a really good hitter.”

Cleveland acquired Miller last August from the San Diego Padres in the nine-player Mike Clevinger deal. He becomes the fourth member of that trade on the Indians active roster, joining Austin Hedges, Josh Naylor and Cal Quantrill.

President of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said last week that Miller is capable of playing shortstop, but he is gaining confidence all around the diamond.

“He would tell you, when we asked him in spring training, he felt his best positions were second base and third base,” Antonetti said. “Those were the places where he had spent the most time recently. So that’s why we started to mix shortstop and first base back into the fold to help his comfort there.”

Reyes injured himself in Saturday’s 5-3 win against the Twins in the sixth inning on a swing against .Minnesota’s Jorge Alcala. It’s the first career trip to the injured list for Reyes.