I was flipping through the channels last evening and noticed that the starting pitcher for the Detroit Tigers in their game against the Atlanta Braves, Andrew Miller, is from Gainesville.
Miller, the 22 year-old phenom who now holds a 3-1 record on the year and a 2.70 ERA, was born (and I would suppose raised) in Gainesville. He attended Buchholz High School (the alma mater of our favorite quarterback, Doug Johnson) before going onto a successful college career with the University of North Carolina -- he went 27-9 with a sub-three ERA over three seasons in Chapel Hill.
My question is, and I haven't found too much on this, how the heck did this guy not end up going to Florida? Who's to blame? How do we let a kid of that talent escape Gainesville?
Anybody who stumbles upon this site ... do you know an answer?
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Also in baseball news - Matt LaPorta was given a nice, $2 million signing bonus with the Milwaukee Brewers ... looks like he made a great decision to stay with UF a couple seasons ago.