Shelby Miller for Jason Heyward Trade Risk Paying off Big for Braves

It's much too early to pass judgement on any offseason moves. But a month into the 2015 campaign, the deal that sent Shelby Miller from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Atlanta Braves has Atlanta smelling sweeter than a Georgia peach.

The latest and most convincing evidence came Tuesday night, as Miller twirled a three-hit shutout and struck out eight in a 9-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. 

Really, Miller has been dealing all season. Through six starts, the 24-year-old right-hander owns a 1.66 ERA and 0.97 WHIP.

"He gives us a chance to win every time he goes out there," manager Fredi Gonzalez said after Miller's previous solid outing April 25, per MLB.com's Mark Bowman.

Gonzalez isn't kidding: After Tuesday's win, the Braves are 5-1 with Miller on the bump.

How did Miller feel about his third career shutout? "This was a fun one," he said during postgame comments that were mostly sprinkled with humility, per David O'Brien of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

So what about the big piece the Braves gave up to get Miller, outfielder Jason Heyward? Entering play Wednesday, Heyward was hitting a pedestrian .224. 

Heyward may well get his swing going. He's a genuine talent who hit .300 with an .803 OPS this spring. And, to reiterate, we're barely out of April.

At the same time, there's no reason to assume Miller will slow down. 

Yes, the Phillies team he diced up Tuesday isn't exactly a juggernaut. But Miller exhibited excellent command of all of his pitches and needed only 99 of them to get through nine frames, becoming the first hurler this season to accomplish that feat, per ESPN Stats & Info:

It's not as if this success is coming out of nowhere. A first-round pick by the Cardinals in 2009, Miller posted a 3.06 ERA and won 15 games in 2013, finishing third in National League Rookie of the Year balloting.

Last season, though, his ERA and walk rate rose while his strikeouts dipped. 

So St. Louis shipped him out of town in an effort to upgrade its offense. With ace Adam Wainwright now out for the season with an Achilles injury and Miller looking studly down south, it's possible the Cards are wishing for a mulligan. 

Todd Kirkland/Associated Press

What's the secret to Miller's dominance? CSNPhilly.com's Corey Seidman breaks down the young hurler's recent evolution:

"

With the Cardinals the last two seasons, Miller threw his 95 mph four-seam fastball about 70 percent of the time and his curveball 20 percent. He missed far fewer bats last season than he did in 2013, though, and that has caused him to mix it up a bit.

With the Braves, Miller is trying to expand his repertoire. He is incorporating a sinker learned from 2014 teammate Justin Masterson, throwing it nearly as often as the four-seamer. He’s also throwing quite a bit of cutters, too. That’s just the way the game is moving for right-handed pitchers — cutters in to lefties, backdoor sinkers to righties.

"

The real beauty for Atlanta is that Miller is under team control through 2018. While the Braves have been an early surprise—they currently sit at 13-14, four games back in the NL East—they're a franchise in full-on rebuilding mode. Young, relatively inexpensive talent is the order of the day.

The Braves gambled by shipping out Heyward, who at age 25 is still among the more promising position players in the game, with the bat and the glove.

So far, thanks to Miller's right arm, Atlanta appears to be holding all the cards.

All statistics current as of May 5 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.