Seattle Mariners Starting Pitcher 'Feeling Good' After Live Bullpen Session

"Everything felt good," Miller said after his bullpen session. "Shapes and I think (velocity) was really good. Felt really sharp. First time seeing hitters in six weeks, or whatever. Need to tighten some things up, but I think that'll come over the next few weeks."

Miller didn't feel any pain following his BP session, but said he'll feel "really confident" after getting through second, third and fourth innings. He pointed out it's difficult to feel 100% confident after the live BP due to how poorly his elbow responded during his first IL stint when he received the cortisone shot.

The fastball velocity and location was there for Miller. He's currently working on getting better feel for his secondary offerings. He said his splitter and curveball felt good during the live BP and is also tweaking his slider.

"(I'm tweaking it for) mainly results," Miller said. "For some reason this year, it's been hard for me to throw that pitch upper-80s like I have in the past. Little grip change and moving it a little bit more left than it was. Feels closer to a fastball for me, so I think it should be easier to throw harder and then hopefully locate better."

Miller and manager Dan Wilson seem encouraged that the next step, barring setbacks, is a rehab assignment. But neither are sure where or how long the stint will be.

"Continuing to see how he bounces back," Wilson said in a pregame scrum Saturday. "(We'll) reassess (Sunday) as he comes back. Hopefully that's soon and, again, encouraged by what we saw and steps just keep going the way we thought they were gonna go."

Miller has a 5.73 ERA this season with 39 strikeouts in 48.2 innings pitched across 10 starts.