PEORIA, Ariz. — Walker Buehler has been working his first two weeks in camp with pitching coach Ruben Niebla on some mechanical tweaks, refining his grip on at least one pitch and ramping up to where he can truly be evaluated as an option in the Padres’ rotation.
On Saturday, he took a significant step forward in that process when he faced another team for the first time with the Padres.
The 31-year-old right-hander got pulled in the first inning before returning to retire five consecutive batters and finish (the better part of) three innings against the NC Dinos of the Korean Baseball Organization.
“The first inning was a little rough,” Buehler said. “A bunch of singles, but throwing strikes. I think the velocity was a little bit above where we thought it would be. Overall, a lot of good, a lot of bad, lots of stuff to figure out. … Only so much you’re gonna get out of it today. But all in all, a good day.”
Working on a back field at the Peoria Sports Complex, Buehler reached 92 mph with his fastball and hit 91 on the 47th of his 48 pitches.
The two-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion has had two Tommy John surgeries. He no longer hurls his fastball in the upper 90s, and in the two seasons since returning from his 2022 surgery has not been able to locate that pitch (and others) the way he did when compiling a 2.90 ERA (sixth best among qualifying starters) from 2017 through ‘21.
The Padres, who signed Buehler to a minor-league deal earlier this month, do believe they can get him higher than his 94 mph average from last season while posting a 4.93 ERA over 126 innings for the Red Sox and Phillies.
“I think pitching on the backfields is different than pitching (against major leaguers in a stadium),” Buehler said. “Adrenaline is not quite what it probably will be here in the next one. But for (the velocity) to kind of casually be in there, I think, is really nice and reassuring. Every year, my elbow seems to kind of start feeling a little bit better. And this year is no different. I got in a lot better shape than typical offseasons, and I’m feeling good about it.”
The first inning, which he departed after allowing two runs on four singles, could conceivably have lasted just three pitches on a different day or with major league fielders behind him.
The outing began with a single dribbled to the left side, a single grounded under a diving first baseman and a sacrifice fly to left field. Buehler had thrown three pitches to that point.
He was at 23 pitches when minor leaguer Clay Edmonson came in and got the final out in the top of the first.
Buehler then worked an 11-pitch second inning and got the first two outs of the third before another single was dribbled to the left side. He ended his day by getting a groundout to the right side.
While the competition he faced Saturday is by and large considered to be about Double-A level, what he did in mixing in a lot of sliders and curveballs was exactly what the Padres figure he will have to do if he is pitching successfully for them in 2026 — finesse outs any way he can.
“It’s the job,” Buehler said. “I would love to get back to throwing really hard and trying to punch everyone. … I just want to help the team and be successful and get back to some of the expectations I used to have.”
Morejón’s quick work
Adrian Morejón followed Buehler to the mound and overmatched the Dinos in a 1-2-3 inning that took 11 pitches.
It was the left-hander’s first game action of spring after he pitched 73⅔ innings in 75 games, both career highs, in 2025.
“Morejón took on a big load last year,” Niebla said. “… Him and I had the discussions (that) we’re going slow play just a little bit going into camp.”
Other relievers who are guaranteed spots in the bullpen and are not pitching in the WBC are not all that far ahead of Morejón. David Morgan has made two Cactus League appearances, and Jeremiah Estrada made his second one Saturday.
Miller’s focus
In his final appearance before joining Team USA in advance of the World Baseball Classic, closer Mason Miller retired the Mariners in order in the fifth inning of the Padres’ 7-1 victory on Saturday.
Miller threw 17 pitches, including three of his nine fastballs at 102.1 mph or harder, and struck out two batters.
He did not allow a run in any of his three Cactus League appearances and has struck out five of the 10 batters he has faced. This was his first entirely clean inning after he allowed a single in his first outing and a walk in his second.
While his velocity commands much of the attention, Miller’s focus going into 2026 is on consistency.
“You look at my walk rate last year, probably bottom 5%,” he said. “Some of that comes with swing-and-miss stuff. I’m getting a lot of strikeouts. I’m also getting some takes out of the zone and deep counts and things like that. But I think (the goal is) just being more consistent.”
His career-high 12% walk rate in 2025 was actually bottom 10% among MLB relievers. And he does throw some extra pitches because of the high miss rate on his pitches (42.5% in 2025, highest in MLB) and the fact he strikes out a lot of batters (44.4% in 2025, highest in MLB).
However, Miller’s walk rate last season was 3½ percentage points higher than in 2024. He finished ’25 by allowing just four hits and striking out 42 batters over 20 scoreless appearances (21⅓ innings). But there was a 13-game stretch within that run in which he walked eight of 51 batters.
“I think through the majority of last year, my control was good,” he said. “I think it just came in patches that, like, I’d come in and have a couple walks in an outing or feel like I lost it for a couple hitters. I still managed to get out of the situation, but not in a way that I would like to. So just finding a way to stretch that over 162. You know you’re gonna have bad games, but how can you shorten that window up?”
He’s OK
Pablo Reyes, who was hit near his elbow by a pitch on Friday, had X-rays that came back negative.
The utility player with a .648 OPS in 606 big-league plate appearances is in camp as a non-roster invite.