Cubs Place Shelby Miller on IL, Recall Kyle Ryan from Alternate Site

The Cubs have placed reliever Shelby Miller on the injured list retroactive to April 22 with what is being called a lower back strain. While this has all the earmarks of a phantom injury, it’s entirely possible the righty tweaked his back turning around to look at all the knocks he’s given up. Miller faced a total of 18 batters in three appearances, the first of which saw him fail to record an out, allowing seven hits and walking five with just one strikeout.

Filling the opening on the roster is lefty Kyle Ryan, who has been at the alternate site trying to work through some of the kinks that were all too evident in 2020. Ryan has a unique release point that sees him coming to the plate from way over to the first-base side and he was a very reliable reliever in 2019, making 73 appearances with a 3.54 ERA.

Provided his location is better and he’s not serving up homers at an alarming rate, this move strengthens the bullpen for the time being.