Could a Mariners bullpen stint could be in Bryce Miller’s future?

Bryce Miller is on the comeback trail, as the third-year Seattle Mariners pitcher started a rehab assignment last week with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers.

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The 26-year-old right-hander has been on the injured list since June with right elbow inflammation, but he had an impressive first outing back on the mound Friday, holding the Sugar Land Space Cowboys scoreless on one hit and no walks with six strikeouts over four innings. He threw 52 pitches in a game where he was expected to be limited to about 55.

With at least two more rehab starts expected for Miller, that puts his timeline for a return to the Mariners’ starting rotation sometime before the end of August. And that is the plan – for him to return to the rotation. That may not be the only option for the Mariners to get him back in the mix this season, however.

In a conversation Tuesday on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk, Mariners broadcaster Aaron Goldsmith wondered if there is a scenario where the Mariners instead use Miller out of the bullpen down the stretch.

Here’s what Goldsmith said:

Well, there’s no doubt that the Mariners will insert him back into the rotation as soon as possible, right? This was a guy who was one of truly the most dominant starting pitchers in the second half of last season, and not just the second half – he was just one of the best starting pitchers in baseball last year.

The question will be, how does it feel? How does your elbow feel? Is the pain gone enough? Do you have life on the ball? Do you have command of the ball? Do you look like Bryce Miller again?

… Everything that they (can) do to make him a starting pitcher again this season, they will do. If that can’t happen for any of the reasons we just described, how it looks or how it feels, and trying to go five, six, seven innings isn’t in the cards, my guess would be he’d be a pretty darn good reliever for an inning a couple of times a week, and that makes your bullpen better.

Their No. 1 goal is, how can we have Bryce Miller impact a Mariners game? (The Mariners would) strongly prefer that to be in the rotation. And if not, can we make that work for a month and change, almost two months out of the bullpen? But the priority is without a doubt to get him back in the starting mix.

Goldsmith isn’t the only baseball insider this week to mention the idea of Miller pitching out of the Mariners’ bullpen while on Brock and Salk. ESPN’s Jeff Passan also did so on Monday, though his scenario had to do with the postseason, where built-in days off mean teams don’t need to use their full pitching rotation.

“Bryce Miller looked awesome in his last rehab start at Tacoma,” Passan said. “Fastball was up to 98 mph and secondary stuff was good. Was not throwing balls – I think it was 42 strikes on 52 pitches. Everything you want to see from Bryce Miller was there. … Their bullpen has gotten better and is going to be deeper in the playoffs when theoretically they will be able to use Bryce Miller out of it.”

Where things stand with Bryce Miller

It’s fun to think about the impact Miller could have out of the bullpen, but it’s clear the Mariners are angling toward having him return to the rotation, which would give Seattle its five preferred starters all fully healthy for the first time all season.

Former All-Star pitchers George Kirby and Logan Gilbert have both returned to the Mariners this season from stints on the IL after three rehab starts with Tacoma, but with this being Miller’s second time on the IL this season for the same elbow issue, Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said they’re taking extra measures with him before he takes the field for the M’s again.

“We’ll build the pitch count as opposed to some of what we’ve done through his last time (on the IL),” Dipoto said. “This time we are just going to be able to (focus on) building him up and making sure he’s ready to throw a full workload before we send him out there.”

Miller is 2-5 with a 5.73 ERA, 1.54 WHIP and 39 strikeouts to 23 walks over 48 2/3 innings this season for Seattle. He was a star for the Mariners in 2024, however, going 12-8 with a 2.94 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, and 171 strikeouts to 45 walks over 180 1/3 innings. He finished fourth in all of MLB last year in WHIP and tied for fourth in opponent batting average (.200). He also was eighth in ERA, 19th in strikeouts per walk ratio (3.80), and 21st in walks per nine innings (2.25).

Catch Brock and Salk live from 6-10 a.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.

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