2009 Preview: Justin, “Gus” to friends, family and teammates, will captain the team for a second consecutive year ... he is only the 14th Buckeye to be a captain more than one year ... he is a humble young man and a “team first” player, and that’s why his teammates selected him as captain in 2009 ... he also is the team’s best returning hitter with a .348 career average that skyrockets to .387 in Big Ten Conference games ... he has led the team in hits the past two years, the first Buckeye to do so since Jonathan Sweet in 1993-94 and only the seventh Buckeye ever to accomplish the feat ... he is on the preseason watch list for the Brooks Wallace Player of the Year award and should be a candidate for additional awards this season ... has 197 career hits and 124 career RBI ... will crack Ohio State Top 25 for career hits with his 200th and Top 25 for career RBI with his 127th ... maintaining his three-year seasonal averages of 65 hits and 45 RBI per year will vault Justin into Ohio State’s career Top 5 in RBI and move him into the No. 2 position for career hits.
2008 (Junior): Had a terrific season, leading the Buckeyes in eight hitting categories including average (.395), slugging (.535), hits (79) and RBI (61) ... started and played in 53 games and had hits in 44 games ... 10 games with three or more hits ... did not go hitless in back-to-back games ... RBI total is T8th at OSU for a single season and hits total is T18th ... ranked fifth in the Big Ten in RBI and doubles, sixth in RBI and third in sac flies (8) ... hit .400 vs. left-handers, .393 vs. righties and a team-best .421 with runners on base ... also led team with 21 multi-hit and 19 multi-RBI games ... hit safely in 15 of the season’s last 16 games (29-of-65; .446), including 14 consecutive at one point and had 24 RBI and 12 runs scored during the stretch ... set career highs with five hits and five RBI vs. Louisville and then duplicated those numbers later vs. Buffalo ... May 12 Big Ten player of the week after hitting .562 the week prior (9-for-16) with four runs and 10 RBI in four games ... 8-for-16 vs. Iowa with four runs and four RBI ... 7-for-13 vs. Illinois with nine RBI in three games ... made 40 starts at first base, eight at catcher, four at third and one as the DH ... played summer baseball for Falmouth in the Cape Cod League and for the Luray Wranglers of the Valley League.
2007 (Sophomore): Lead the team in RBI with 51, hits with 81 and ranked second with a .346 average ... the only player to start all 62 games (58 at first base; four at catcher) ... batted a team-best .417 with 28 RBI in Big Ten Conference games and was named third-team all-Big Ten ... hits total is tied for 10th at Ohio State for a single season ... hit safely in 24 of team’s first 26 games ... outstanding in special situations, including a team-best 23 RBI with two out, an .818 average (18-22) with runners on third and less than two outs, and an overall .389 average with runners in scoring position (35-90) ... team-best seven sac flies ranked second in the Big Ten ... had 19 multi-hit games and 11 multi-RBI games ... seven of his multi-RBI games came against Big Ten foes and the Buckeyes won five of those games ... had career-high four hits (since topped) plus three runs scored and four RBI vs. Toledo ... had at least three hits nine times, including five times vs. Big Ten teams ... had a career-best 16-game hitting streak snapped in the final game of the Michigan series ... also had nine-, eight- and two six-game hitting streaks ... hit .571 in the Michigan State series (8-14) with seven RBI ... followed that series with another torrid effort, batting .500 (7-14) with three runs and four RBI vs. Minnesota ... drove in three runs in the Big Ten tournament, including two in the first win over Minnesota ... hit .417 in three NCAA tournament games with hits in all three games, including three against Louisiana-Lafayette ... drove in two runs vs. Texas A&M.
2006 (Freshman): Appeared in 45 games as a true freshman and made 33 starts, all but three at first base ... settled into the starting job at first base for 30 games, including the final 21 games of the year ... also made starts at catcher and as the team’s DH and played some at third base ... batted .280 with 37 hits, 12 RBI and 19 runs scored ... flawless on defense in 269 chances ... started 19 of his 22 conference games and batted .351 with 26 hits, including three doubles ... finished the year with 10 multiple-hit games ... recorded season-high three hits vs. Cornell and in game one of the Michigan State series ... made first appearance, a start a first base, in the upset of No. 12 Missouri ... first career hit, a double in the eighth inning, came as a pinch hitter in the 14-0 win over UMass ... batted .471 (8-for-17) in four starts at first base at Michigan State ... also scored three times against the Spartans and drove in three runs ... had four hits vs. Minnesota with two RBI and two runs scored ... went 5-for-12 with three RBI and scored four runs vs. Penn State ... had three hits in the Big Ten tournament with an RBI single vs. Minnesota ... finished with at least one hit in 16 of his last 19 games ... managed a season-long nine-game hit streak ... played summer baseball for the Luray Wranglers of the Valley League.
Turner Ashby H.S.: Earned all-district and all-region honors as a senior ... served as the team captain and earned MVP honors ... batted .544 with five home runs and 36 RBI as a senior and finished his career with a .402 batting average ... team finished 25-4 and was the state runner up his senior season ... was a four-year starter and four-year letterwinner ... Turner Ashby’s all-time leader with 124 career hits, 124 runs batted in and a .544 single season batting average ... team won the AA state championship his freshman year.
Personal: Justin is the son of Brent and Debbie Miller ... has two sisters, Kacey and Blaire ... uncle, Tom Bocock, played baseball at James Madison from 1979-82 and spent two years in the St. Louis Cardinals organization ... cousin, Brian Bocock, was a ninth-round draft pick by the San Francisco Giants (Stetson University) in the 2006 draft ... enjoys hunting and fishing.
Overall AVG G/GS AB R H HR RBI BB SO
2006 .280 45/33 132 19 37 0 12 11 18
2007 .346 62/62 234 27 81 1 51 16 15
2008 .395 53/53 200 35 79 4 61 17 14
Totals .348 160/148 566 81 197 5 124 44 47
Big Ten AVG G/GS AB R H HR RBI BB SO
2006 .351 22/19 74 14 26 0 6 4 9
2007 .417 30/30 103 14 43 1 28 9 8
2008 .383 30/30 107 18 41 1 29 8 10
Totals .387 82/79 284 46 110 2 63 21 27
Postseason AVG G AB R H HR RBI BB SO
Big Ten Tour. .181 10 44 2 8 0 4 2 3
NCAA Tour. .417 3 12 0 5 0 2 1 1
Totals .216 13 56 2 13 0 6 3 4
