Notes, Takeaways From Bryce Miller's Rehab Start With High-A Everett AquaSox
· Yahoo Sports
EVERETT, Wash. — While the Seattle Mariners took care of business on the major league side of things with a 3-2 win against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, one starting pitcher for the M's was putting together an impressive rehab outing.
Mariners starting pitcher Bryce Miller took the mound for the High-A Everett AquaSox in a game against the Spokane Indians on Friday at Funko Field in Everett, Wash.
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It was the second rehab outing for Miller, who's been on the 15-day injured list with a left oblique strain he suffered in spring training.
In Miller's first outing, which came with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers on April 18, he struck out two batters, walked one and allowed three earned runs on four hits in 1.2 innings of work.
Miller's outing with Everett was a lot more sharp.
The former Texas A&M product fanned a six, walked one and allowed one hit in three innings of work. He threw 47 pitches (35 strikes) and his fastball velocity sit in the 95-98 mph range.
Miller got a full range of his arsenal, as well. He used all seven of the pitches in his arsenal (four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball/sinker, slider, splitter, cutter, knuckle curve, sweeper). His strikeouts were equally split between his slider and splitter. He threw first-pitch strikes in nine out of 11 batters faced.
"Everything feels good," Miller said after his start Friday. "Oblique's 100%. Just got to get the arm in full, 100-pitch, regular shape. It's a little tough here and in Tacoma — I'm not able to do the exact same stuff in between innings and underneath, throwing plyos and stuff. So just trying to adjust and make sure that I'm warm when I get out there, the arm feels good. It's a little bit of an adjustment but everything feels good. (Velocity's) good."
Bryce Miller allows a single and issues a walk but gets out of the jam. Two more strikeouts.
— Teren Kowatsch (@Teren_Kowatsch) April 25, 2026
Final line: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 Ks, 47 pitches (35 strikes).#Mariners#TridentsUppic.twitter.com/e9nzCQZA5P
Despite Miller's solid outing, there were still noticeable things from his outing that he's hoping to improve on.
Miller's fastball, which he typically aims and lands top-run, had a more downward motion and landed near the bottom of the zone several times Friday. His four-seamer had a similar trade in his rehab outing with Tacoma.
Miller said that motion was unintentional and will be looking to refine his location with his heater in his next rehab outing.
Despite the effectiveness of the 27-year-old's slider, he's still looking to add some final tweaks to it, as well. Although he's willing to leave it as-is if it continues to breed results.
"It's a little bit slower than I want," Miller said. "It's been like 85 (miles per hour). The sweeper and the curveball have been 85 at times. We're still kind of messing with (the slider) but the results have been good on it. I don't want to mess with it too much. I'll talk to (Seattle director of pitching strategy Trent Blank) and see what he thinks. ... I want it to be a little harder. If the heater's gonna be (95-98), I think the slider should be 88-89. Not 84-85. But we'll see. See what happens with it."
MIller's next rehab outing will be back with the Rainiers against the Las Vegas Aviators at 7:05 p.m. PT on Friday at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma, Wash. Miller's pitch count will increase from Friday's three-inning, 45-pitch limit to four innings and 60 pitches.
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