Mariners pitcher Bryce Miller made his first start in a competitive game since February 26th yesterday in Tacoma, beginning a rehab assignment that will last through at least the end of May. Miller was on a pitch count/innings limit of around 35 pitches and two innings, and wound up pitching 1.2 innings and throwing 33 pitches, 21 of them for strikes. He gave up three runs on four hits, with a walk and a pair of strikeouts (although one of them came on a batter pitch timer violation).
The most exciting
thing about Miller’s outing was the velocity on his fastballs. The first pitch he threw was a 98.1 four-seamer that just nicked the outer edge. He went on to hit 98.7 with the first pitch to his second hitter, missing low, but beating his hardest career pitch—which was 98.3 to George Springer in the ALCS, and which he then followed up with two more fastballs (97.8, 97.9) that were harder than any he’s thrown since 2023.
The positive upward trend continued for Miller’s lone spring training outing, where his velocity was again up, touching 98.4, and it’s a positive sign that he’s been able to carry that through his bullpens during his rehab process and into his first rehab start, where his four-seam averaged 97.1 mph and his sinker average was up to 96.7 on average.
What Miller needs to work on next is making sure he’s still able to hit his spots with that increased velocity; his fastball had a ton of downward action in his outing in Tacoma, but he missed at the bottom of the zone a few times, including a particularly violent spike at 97.8 mph that resulted in a walk.
Beyond his four-seamer, Miller’s most favored pitch in his outing was his slider, which he threw with the new grip he’s learned from Bryan Abreu in Houston. (Don’t be fooled by his slider velocity average on Gameday, which incorrectly labels a 92 mph cutter as a slider.) He missed with it outside some, but also had success when he was able to get it to be “depthy,” something he said he was working on in Arizona.
The bigger breakers – the curve and the splitter – were harder for Miller to corral, and he hung a few, but was still able to get a couple of whiffs on the splitter, and he got a groundout on the curve. Miller threw a handful of cutters, generating weak contact; touted Giants prospect Bryce Eldridge got on top of the pitch and rolled over it for an easy groundout.
When Miller was commanding the bottom of the zone, the River Cats batters were pounding his stuff into the dirt; he gave up one line drive base hit, on a poorly located fastball that was hit hard, but everything else was on the ground, with a couple of hits sneaking through.
For Miller, what he was concerned about in his outing was re-adjusting to the pitch clock after such a long layoff, a challenge made more stringent in working with a less-familiar catcher with his rich pitch mix. Physically, though, he said he felt fine and is looking forward to his next start. Miller’s next rehab start will be Friday in Everett, where he’ll be caught by Mariners prospect Luke Stevenson, marking an exciting challenge for the youngster to catch a big-league arm. For this outing, he’ll try to stretch to three innings, with a pitch cap of 45.
