Miller (oblique) brings the velo in 1st rehab start

SEATTLE -- Bryce Miller experienced some expected rust in his first rehab start for Triple-A Tacoma on Saturday, but stuff-wise, everything appeared sharp.

Miller averaged 97.1 mph on his four-seam fastball and mixed in the slider, splitter, knuckle curve, sinker and sweeper -- got all that? -- over 33 pitches during the debut of what’s expected to be a 30-day assignment.

The velocity is what stood out most on Saturday, as it was significantly high on all his pitches but especially the heaters. The four-seamer was up 2.3 mph from his 2025 clip and the sinker was up 1.9 mph -- each of which was a reflection of where the pitches were when he first suffered the injury.

“Velo in Spring Training was the best it's been in a while,” Miller said on Friday. “It was really good the last couple weeks. So it'll be good to do it in a game environment.”

Miller surrendered three earned runs on four hits and one walk (to his first batter), with two strikeouts over 1 2/3 innings, as the Rainiers beat Sacramento 6-4.

All of the damage against Miller came in the second inning, when he gave up back-to-back singles, recorded a fielder’s choice for his first out, then surrendered two more hits -- an RBI single and a two-run double. He finished his day with a strikeout, but didn’t clear the frame because he’d already reached his pitch allotment.

While it won’t show up in the box score, this is what the Mariners wanted to see.

“Just that he's feeling good, that he's repeating his delivery, that he's not compensating in any way and making changes to how his body's moving, because he's saying he feels fine, but his actions say otherwise,” general manager Justin Hollander said Friday. “So that's what we need to see over the next 30 days.”

Added Miller: “The main thing I need to work on is that I haven't thrown on a pitch clock or anything or worked on pickoffs or any of this small stuff in a while. So obviously, besides getting ahead in the main stuff, that'll be one of my main focuses.”

The next step, tentatively, for Miller will be to go three innings and/or roughly 45 pitches next Friday. That will likely be at High-A Everett, because the AquaSox will be at home while the Rainiers are in Oklahoma City.