Gage Miller signs a baseball for a young Burlington Sock Puppets fan after a game. (Bob Sutton / Randolph Record)
BURLINGTON – Gage Miller’s winding baseball path has taken him to the Burlington Sock Puppets this summer.
The infielder from Asheboro is still trying to carve out a stable college career.
“I love baseball every single day,” Miller said. “I’m trying to get back into that groove. I knew once I got in the groove, I’ll be fine.”
Miller left Asheboro High School’s team to play his senior season for Pro5 Baseball Academy based in Holly Springs, where he was slowed at times by a tendon foot injury. By then, the one-time North Carolina State commit realized it wasn’t going to work out for him there as the Wolfpack recruited over him and reduced his scholarship.
But Queens, a newcomer on the Division I scene in Charlotte, came calling.
“A big, old juicy offer I couldn’t pass up,” Miller said.
Before things barely got started for him there, Queens had a coaching staff change last summer. The new staff arrived and replenished the roster, causing Miller to sense his path had been detoured with incoming transfer upperclassmen. He redshirted in 2024 and entered the transfer portal.
“I was going to save my eligibility,” he said. “It has helped me with my recruiting.”
Miller, 19, has been in contact with junior colleges in addition to Division I and Division II teams.
Sock Puppets manager Anthony Essien players on the summer team are in various stages of their college journeys with different objectives during the season. In Miller’s case, that’s trying to boost his stock.
“One thing I tell players, there’s a pressure of playing for a scholarship,” Essien said.
Along the way, Miller played last summer for the Old North State League’s High Point Hushpuppies. He was coveting a chance to play with Burlington in the Appalachian League, which is a summer collegiate circuit overseen by Major League Baseball.
He’s logging time mostly as a first baseman and third baseman on a Sock Puppets club with players who’ve been on college teams in NCAA regionals.
“Third base is where I want to play,” he said, though noting that shortstop is also a possibility.
Miller said he dedicated himself to conditioning in the past year, after his weight went from 205 pounds to 250.
“I was just fat,” he said. “I worked my butt off to get down to 190. I got a lot quicker.”
There have been signs of Miller cranking up production. He drove in three runs in front of a July 4 crowd of more than 4,000 fans when the Sock Puppets defeated the visiting Danville Otterbots 9-5.
In a game before that, Essien said Miller turned a two-strike situation into a broken-bat single.
“Sometimes it takes an at-bat to get you going,” Essien said.
Now, Miller is awaiting his next stop.
“I’m still a little young,” he said. “Now I’m looking for a place I can go make a difference and call home.”
