PEORIA, Ariz. -- The bone spurs are still in Bryce Miller’s pitching elbow.
But the Mariners right-hander discovered a solution early in the offseason that allowed him to avoid undergoing a procedure that he’d long envisioned as inevitable.
The answer was a Synvisc injection, gleaned from consultations with renowned orthopedist Dr. Keith Meister and applied to improve joint lubrication, dampen inflammation -- and above all, relieve pain.
“After I got that, that’s when I started feeling a lot better,” Miller said. “I thought for sure I was going to have to get the spurs shaved down and removed.”
Miller, who was on the injured list twice last season due to the issue, received just one injection this offseason. And he reported to Spring Training all systems go, making his first Cactus League start in Thursday’s game vs. the Guardians.
“I talked to the team and talked to Meister,” Miller said, “and Meister was like, 'Don't touch it. If it feels good, don't touch it.’ And now that we know kind of how to help it, then, he was like, 'If you feel anything in the offseason, or anything in Spring Training, or anything during the year, just get another injection and you'll be back rolling again' -- now that we know how to fix it.”
As he indicated, the situation could be fluid. But Miller believes that he’s cleared the need for any surgical procedure altogether.
“At first I was like, ‘Why don't I just get it removed and I won't have to deal with it?’” Miller said. “But I think there's a lot more that could go into it than just removing them and feeling great. Sometimes people get it removed and it changes the way your elbow works when you throw, and that leads to something worse happening.”
But there was even more clarity to the decision.
“If I wouldn't have gotten to pitch in the postseason and to feel really good, and then if I wouldn't have had as successful of an offseason as I did, then I think I would have still been probably pushing to get them out,” Miller said. “But just the way it's felt the last five months, it feels like it's not even there.”
Indeed, it’s the way that Miller finished last season that makes him arguably the most intriguing of Seattle’s starters this camp.
He went from being destined for a bullpen role in October to instead being thrust into some of the Mariners’ most consequential starts -- none more impressive than in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series in Toronto. On short rest for the first time in his career, Miller overcame a solo homer on his very first pitch, to George Springer, then led the Mariners to a 3-1 win by holding the Blue Jays to just 1-for-19 to end the six-inning outing.
He followed that up with four-plus strong innings of one-run ball in a Game 5 win, bookending a ledger that began with a start in Game 4 of the AL Division Series against Detroit. Overall, Miller had a 2.51 ERA in three postseason starts -- which was his first taste of October, having missed Seattle’s most recent playoff run in ’22 while still in the Minors.
That was a stark contrast to his regular season, when he carried a 5.68 ERA (67 ERA+, where league average is 100) over 18 outings, numbers that were inflated largely due to the bone spurs.
“I didn't really feel like I contributed much to us getting to the postseason,” Miller said. “But yeah, I was definitely happy to get out there and pitch well and give us a chance in the postseason and pitch like myself.”
For all the team’s heartache at the end, Miller’s ascent gave the front office more to dream on in ‘26. And for Miller himself, as he returned from the IL for good on Aug. 19, he said that his reflection on ‘25 was always going to be rooted in how it ended.
“When you can deliver and deliver at the high level that he did,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said, “I thought it was -- it's a tremendous confidence boost for him.”