General manager Justin Hollander updated reporters (including Shannon Drayer of Seattle Sports and Daniel Kramer of MLB.com) on some injury situations in Mariners camp, including joint pain Bryce Miller. The right-hander reported discomfort in his left side on Thursday, and a subsequent MRI revealed inflammation. Miller received a PRP shot and will be fully re-evaluated in about a week, though he could start playing catch in a few days.
Dreyer described Miller’s closure as “very conscious,” and the pain was so mild that Miller may not have told the team when the issue came up during the regular season. That said, there’s clearly no reason for Miller or the Mariners to push things during spring training. There is no question whether Miller could start the season on the 15-day disabled list as a precaution, or if he can return to the mound in about a week to continue his usual spring surge.
Miller is already coming off an injury-plagued season that saw him average 90 1/3 regular season innings. Bone spurs in his throwing elbow twice sent Miller to the IL, though he returned in the latter part of August to make eight more starts, then posted a 2.51 ERA over three starts and 14 1 1/3 innings in the playoffs.
Rather than surgery to deal with bone spurs, Miller opted for non-surgical treatments like cortisone shots, PRP shots, and Synvisc injections to try to avoid the procedure. It was just over a week ago that Miller said he was able to have a regular season, even though this seemingly minor side pain was unacceptable.
If things progressed so much that Miller needed a trip to IL, Emerson Hancock would probably be Seattle’s top pick as a rotation fill-in. Blas Castano and a tall person Cooper Criswell are on the 40-man roster, or the Mariners can choose to select a non-roster invitational contract as Casey Lawrence or Dane Dunning.
I turn to the diamond, JP Crawford is expected to play in his first Cactus League game of the spring on Tuesday. The veteran shortstop will be in the DH lineup Tuesday, as Crawford recovers from a shoulder issue that delayed his progress in camp. Hollander said the plan is for Crawford to return to shortstop next week, which should give him plenty of time to be ready for Opening Day.
There was never any concern that Crawford would miss any regular season action, as the M’s simply stretched Crawford out of his spring practice. He’s taking part in a live batting practice session today to get at-bats against real pitchers under his belt before his first game.
After an oblique strain and a broken right hand limited Crawford to 105 games in 2024, he bounced back with a healthy 2025 campaign and a .265/.352/.370 slash line with 12 homers over 654 plate appearances (translating to a 113 wRC+). Crawford is now entering both of his age-31 seasons, and the final year of the five-year, $51MM extension he signed with the Mariners on April 22. The star’s hopes are short. Colt Emerson near the end of his MLB debut, Crawford’s future in Seattle may be in doubt, so he’ll need a solid season to impress the M’s or other potential suitors in free agency.
Hope Victor Labrada he makes his Triple-A debut in 2025 and could be on the radar for a major league call-up sometime in 2026, but his season could be delayed by an oblique strain. Hollander said Labrada injured his oblique yesterday while swinging in the batting cage, and today an MRI will determine the extent of the injury.
Labrada hit .265/.397/.376 over 235 plate appearances with Triple-A Tacoma, and has a perfect slash line of .267/.365/.402 in 2155 PA in his minor league career. The 26-year-old doesn’t have much power, but he has incredible speed, as he attempted 172 of 222 steals. The speedy and tough outfielder at all three outfield positions could make Labrada at least a backup infielder at the MLB level, and his ability to stick as usual will depend on how well he can get on base and capitalize on what Baseball America describes as “strong bat-to-ball skills to hit the ball to the fairways.” BA ranks Labrada as the 26th best prospect in the Mariners farm system.
