Mariners' Bryce Miller set to begin rehab assignment with Tacoma Rainiers

Bryce Miller will take the chilly evenings at T-Mobile Park over the warm mornings on the backfields of the Mariners' spring training complex in Arizona.

Miller was back in the Mariners clubhouse Friday afternoon in preparation for starting a rehab stint with Triple-A Tacoma/High-A Everett. He is slated to start for the Rainiers on Saturday night at Cheney Stadium. He will throw two innings or roughly 30 pitches.

I'm excited to go down to Tacoma and let it rip and go from there," he said.

Miller felt discomfort in his side during and after his first start in spring training back on Feb. 26. He was diagnosed with a mild oblique strain and was shut down from throwing off the mound for a week. It's been a long road back to being fully healthy.

"Yeah, it's been awhile," he said. "This is week 10 from the original MRI. It's took awhile to get it feeling 100%. I've been throwing a bunch of bullpens and I threw a couple of lives (batting practices) and felt great. I feel 100%. The oblique is ready to go. Arm is good. Just excited to get back on the mound."

Miller's rehab had fits and starts. He had issues with soreness and recovery in the oblique after full bullpen sessions.

"It was kind of a roller coaster of a rehab process," he said. "I'd get to a point where it felt really good, and then I'd throw bullpen and it would go good, the velocity would be great, but then the next couple days, it just wouldn't recover quick enough."

Miller didn't have any of those issues in the last few weeks of throwing, particularly after the two live batting practice sessions, including last Saturday where his fastball was touching 98-99 mph.

"That felt really good.," he said. "My velocity was great and everything was super sharp. The days after that, I felt completely normal."

Miller's buildup to being ready to return from the injured list will be similar to spring training. He will throw on Saturday in Tacoma and get five days rest before pitching Friday for Everett with a limit of three innings or 45 pitches.

"He will need a full 30 days to build up," general manager Justin Hollander said. "It will bee just like we see from guys every February and March, and we just need to see that."

If all goes well, Miller would make five starts on his rehab assignment and build up to 90 pitches.

So what happens when he is ready to come off the injured list? How will the Mariners make it work with Emerson Hancock throwing so well? Would they option Hancock back to Tacoma? Would they try out a six-man rotation? It's a hypothetical already being discussed by fans and sportstalk radio.

"One thing that I never lay at night, not able to sleep thinking about, which is if we have too many good starting pitchers," Hollander said. "It's not a thing that happens to almost anyone. If we get to a month from now, and that's what happens, we'll figure it out. We haven't made any decisions on that whatsoever. And truthfully, God bless us, if it is a problem that we have 30 days from now."

Other injury updates

Patrick Wisdom was placed on the 10-day injured list prior to the game with a mild oblique strain. Rob Refsnyder was reinstated from the paternity list and took his spot on the active roster. Wisdom underwent an MRI after feeling some discomfort while hitting before a game in San Diego.

Outfielder Victor Robles (right pectoral strain) has been cleared to do some baseball activity, but has not been cleared to throw. He's still a few weeks away from playing catch.

Reliever Carlos Vargas (right lat strain) was cleared to start playing catch on Thursday. "He's still a little ways away," Hollander said. "But we're encouraged by how he's progressed and how he's feeling. He was able to play catch yesterday without anything.

Vargas won't start a throwing progression off the mound until May. So he might not return until June.

Miles Mastrobuoni (calf strain) is continuing to play for Triple-A Tacoma on his rehab stint. He will play out the full 20 days available.

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