PEORIA, Ariz. -- The good news for Bryce Miller is that his arm has felt great throughout Spring Training. The not-so-good news is that he recently suffered left side oblique inflammation that will preclude him from making his next Cactus League start.
Miller received a platelet rich plasma shot on Friday night after undergoing imaging that revealed the issue, which he experienced during the first inning of his Cactus start on Thursday. He’ll be sidelined from throwing through the weekend then could begin playing light catch after.
But it’s unclear when he’ll be back on the mound in Cactus play.
“It's something he usually goes through when he first starts to ramp up for camp,” said Mariners general manager Justin Hollander, who said that the club will re-evaluate Miller’s status in seven days.
Miller was up to 98.4 mph on Thursday and unleashed all of his pitches in a by-design effort to test the spin of his offspeeds more in-zone. He was lifted after 1 1/3 innings and 21 pitches, a somewhat shorter threshold for a starter in spring, even in their debut. Hollander said there was no inflection point in Thursday’s outing in which Miller suffered the injury, but rather, it’s general soreness from ramping up.
“We don't think it's serious,” Hollander said. “He's probably presenting more like on the images than he is symptomatically right now.”
While it’s certainly a setback, the Mariners are far more relieved that the issue isn’t arm-related -- especially after Miller was on the injured list twice last season due to bone spurs in his pitching elbow.
“Where he's at -- arm, elbow, shoulder -- is really exciting,” Hollander said. “And I think emotionally where he's at, I think last year was a really good learning lesson for him and sort of adjusting to how he feels and becoming the best version of himself. You can go through some adversity and come out better for it.
“And I think that that can also lead to you saying, 'I'm fine. I just want to keep pitching.' And the right thing to do is just take a break for a week and see where we're at.”
If Miller’s oblique issue lingers -- and again, the Mariners don’t think this will impact his Opening Day status -- the club has been stretching out other starters such as Emerson Hancock and Cooper Criswell, who remain in big league camp, and Dane Dunning, who is departing to pitch for Team Korea in the World Baseball Classic.
Top pitching prospects Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan are obviously also being stretched out, but they are not expected to be considered for the big leagues by Opening Day.
Crawford (right shoulder soreness) making progress
J.P. Crawford was slated to take live at-bats against Minor Leaguers on the back fields on Saturday, with a target date of making his Cactus debut on Tuesday at designated hitter.
If all goes well, he’ll remain at that spot through next week then be installed at shortstop the week of March 8, Hollander said.
Crawford has dealt with similar issues at this stage of camp in previous years and it did not impact his Opening Day status.
“If it were the regular season, he'd be ramping up much, much faster,” Hollander said. “But it's February, so why push it?”
Labrada strains oblique
Minor League outfielder Victor Labrada, who ended last season as Seattle’s No. 27 prospect, strained his oblique while in the batting cages on Friday and was slated to undergo an MRI. He’s expected to be down for a more extended period, per Hollander.