Umpire Profile
Brennan Miller
By Gary Reals
And So It Begins
When Brennan Miller worked the 2025 season opener a few weeks back at Dodger Stadium, he was not only the youngest member of his MLB crew in Los Angeles for those three games; he was the youngest umpire in Major League Baseball….as he has been since first arriving in the Bigs 7 years ago. Now at the age of 33, that’s the way Brennan has rolled since he began his umpire career 20 years ago. He’s always been the youngest ump around!
Brennan regards it as “always nice to be the youngest.” Think about it, Blues. And then, let Brennan explain: “I’ve always needed to show that I know what I’m doing.” Every game. Every level. From 13-U to Major League Baseball.
It was the spring of 2004, when he received a special age exception from John Porter & Al Straub to umpire baseball games at the tender age of 13. He was so young Brennan had to be driven to his games by his father. Mark Miller not only drove, but partnered with sonny-boy. For the most part, Dad was his only partner until Brennan turned 16, got his driver’s license and was able to pilot himself to the baseball fields of Northern Virginia.
In those early years Miller recalls working a mens’ scrimmage and becoming a bit unnerved when the adult pitcher kept arguing a series of close calls he had made at 1st base. Brennan remembers, “Finally, I told him to STOP!” With that, Training Chief Al Straub yelled from behind the backstop, “Yes! Yes! And he later gave me a big hug.” Intense relief for the inexperienced teenager.
About 5 years later, a high school coach Brennan had pitched against for South County HS and defeated to advance to the district championship the preceding year, was “skeptical” that Brennan was old enough, experienced enough and perhaps unbiased enough to umpire a game at W.T. Woodson High School. After a pre-game call to John Porter, the coach was reassured that the young Mr. Miller “could handle the game with no problem.” And that’s exactly what he did. Looking back, of course nobody knew then, not even John Porter, that “Brennan had Major League Baseball in his future.”
Which Bridge to Burn
By 2012, Miller had come to be well known and highly esteemed throughout MAC. This reporter, who had joined the NV ranks the preceding year as a 63-year-old rookie, had seen at least a small dose of Brennan’s skills at training camps, etc. and was keenly aware of his glowing reputation. At the banquet that fall, Miller shared with me that he was awaiting word of admission to the Fairfax County Police Training Academy. Now Blues, please know that I have nothing but respect and appreciation for those men and women who put their lives on the line to keep all of us safe. However, I did grasp at that moment Brennan was standing at the doorway of a huge life-shaping decision: “which bridge to cross and which bridge to burn,” as Vince Gill cries so tenderly in his beautiful old ballad. OK. OK, brothers, Vince was singing about different kinds of bridges, I know. Nevertheless, those were pretty consequential bridges Brennan then faced too.
And, Blues, would you like to hear some good news??? Well, at that point in time, the Police Academy just happened to be in the midst of a delay in assembling its next training class. Darn it all. Suffice to say Brennan Miller committed no delay in opting to attend U-School instead! In retrospect, Brennan agrees, “it really was a no-brainer…a win-win situation.” However, that’s spoken with the benefit of the past 12 years of rather huge accomplishments in Brennan’s umpire life.
Fact is about 1% of those who attend U-School ever make it to Major League Baseball. The poorly paid and uncertain life of a minor league umpire is likely to span four levels, if they’re lucky. Miller spent seven years working games in the minors, which he describes as “a long and treacherous road.”
Beware the Intangibles
After more than a half century of observing and training umpires at all skill levels, John Porter has a unique perspective, “some make it and many lose it.” John’s assessment, “The thing about Brennan that’s so interesting is he went through the ranks so extremely fast!” Porter continues, “if you make it to U-School, that alone puts you in an elite class with lots of competition.” And of those who “run the gauntlet and eventually make it all the way to AAA,” Porter declares, “if they don’t like you, you’re still going to be released!”
The final step before the Bigs, while umpires are still in AAA, is being chosen for the MLB call-up squad. Those umpires called to fill in at MLB games end up working with multiple crews and crew chiefs. They’re seen and evaluated by a raft of savvy MLB veterans. According to John Porter, at that highest level umpire abilities and skills are uniformly well established and excellent. The final ingredient in the MLB-recipe, says Porter, “…are the intangibles. You gotta be liked!”
Get to the Airport
Brennan Miller’s big moment finally arrived on April 20, 2019: summoned to make his Major League debut. “My boss called and told me to call my family, get packed and get to the airport that afternoon,” Brennan vividly remembers. He was in Syracuse, NY at the time for a series of AAA games when a whirlwind of last-minute calls and experiences swept him up and carried him down to Baltimore. Two games awaited him the next day between the Orioles and Minnesota Twins. “It was awesome. It was a blessing,” recalls the then 26-year-old.
Brennan ended up working 1st and 3rd bases in that double-header. “Nothing crazy happened,” he remembers fondly. Although he did encounter one moment of tension when the O’s manager considered whether to challenge an out call he made at 1st base. After using up the allotted time to appeal, no challenge! “It was a relief….big time,” and then Brennan was on his way back to Syracuse to await his next MLB call-ups, of which there were scores over the next 3 years.
The inevitable, in his case, occurred in 2022. Brennan Miller was hired as a full-time MLB umpire and joined the crew of Mark Carlson for the 2023 season. In 2024, he joined Chris Conroy’s crew and is working with Conroy again in 2025. Brennan says, “I’m so fortunate….I’ve worked only with people I adore.”
Looking Back
One of those peeps Brennan has infrequently partnered with is his long-time great friend Chris Segal, another MAC-NVBUA alum, who preceded Brennan into the Bigs. So cool! Chris Segal actually umpired Brennan nearly 25 years ago before they had even met, when the lad was playing Little League in West Springfield.
Fast forward a quarter century, Segal and Miller, along with two other MAC grads/MLB umps—Ryan Wills & Erich Bacchus—are now known far and wide in the highest ranks of umpiring as the “NoVa Mafia!”
From West Springfield Little League to MLB post season playoffs, Chris Segal and Brennan Miller were reunited again last October. Both had the privilege of being assigned to work the 3-game wild card series in Milwaukee between the Brewers and N.Y. Mets. In one of those games, Segal worked 1st base while Brennan was right behind him along the right field line. Segal muses they were able to get caught up, “during the longer commercial breaks of playoff games, all you can really do is talk with your partners.” Brennan says it was “very cool, a wow factor being able to talk between innings with Chris.”
Adjusting
But needless to say, the life of an MLB umpire is much, much more daunting than some occasional friendly chit chat. There is stress! Mental stress of the highest order. Brennan says “you learn to adjust to it very quickly.” He adds, “I’ve made the choice of not even looking at social media.” Nevertheless there is serious feedback. It begins bright & early the very next morning after a game. Crew members receive an internal supervisory critique of their previous night’s performance. All calls on the bases are reviewed. Every pitch that was missed at the plate is analyzed. And then they’re free to go to breakfast or lunch. And no surprise: not only are MLB umpires adept at calling balls and strikes…they’re pretty good at finding their favorite eateries from Boston to Chicago to San Francisco and all the cities in between.
Another major ingredient of stress reduction: vacay! Four weeks off during the season. Combined with a few local games in the DMV, Brennan estimates he’s able to make it home to Alexandria 35-40 days per season. “It’s a mental reset,” and he ensures that is “together time” with his fiancé. They and the dogs often hit the road to get away for special time hiking and relaxing.
Arrival, Baby!
All in all, Brennan Miller ponders, “I’m the luckiest guy in the world.” One of his most memorable moments came two years ago. It was Opening Day 2023. T-Mobile Park in Seattle was rocking! It was Brennan’s 1st Opening Day game. Amid all of the hoopla, taking his position at 3rd base, the youngest umpire on the field soaked it all in. “I’m here,” he said to himself, “I earned this!” Indeed he did.
And permit us to speculate that perhaps Brennan’s most recent Home Opener assignment just 2 years later was perhaps no luck-of-the-draw gift. He and Chris Conroy’s crew were posted in Los Angeles for the defending World Champion Dodgers in a locale devastated by the January wildfires. Surely for the players and fans of LA, it was a most welcome and emotional return to the joys of baseball.
But Blues, still young Brennan Miller has now matured into a complete veteran Major League umpire. “In reality,” he says, “….it was a normal day.” The crew was not out on the field for the pre-game festivities. “We always try not to get overly amped up for the game. It’s business as usual,” says Miller. Kind of spoken like a true veteran, ya know it.
Brennan also realizes the obvious: his current life-long reign as the youngest ump in the league will soon come to an end. He is at peace with that. Blues, after all these years there remains no doubt that this youngster really, really knows what he’s doing out there on the baseball diamond. And, as John Porter would say, he’s liked too!