Wieters: "Today's better than yesterday and yesterday was better than the day before"

SARASOTA, Fla. - Orioles catcher Matt Wieters said he "couldn't be more excited" about the results of yesterday's MRI on his right elbow.

The MRI didn't show any structural damage to the elbow, which became sore after he made a throw to second base in the first inning of Saturday's game against the Twins in Sarasota.

"MRI results look great," Wieters said this morning after summoning reporters to his locker with a playful, exaggerated wave of his arm. "Now it's a matter of just dealing with the symptoms, get them treated and get back out there."

Wieters has the proverbial day-to-day status.

"It's just a matter of we want to make sure we kind of get all the muscle soreness out of there before we start again, so that everything's strong enough to where we don't ...We just want to start with it strong and go from there," he said.

Encouragement comes with the steady improvement that he's feeling in the elbow.

"Today's better than yesterday and yesterday was better than the day before, so that's the goal, to just keep improving. We're on the right track."

Wieters, who underwent ligament-reconstructive surgery on the elbow in June 2014, said he won't need to go back to last year's schedule, when he rarely caught back-to-back games.

"Not really because of how clean the MRI looked," he said. "The further and further we get away from surgery, especially when we get to the two-year point, it seems a lot to where you get a little bit better feeling closer to pre-surgery.

"No, I'm not thinking like that. It was just something that turned into soreness that I needed to get taken care, just like anything would have. We would like this was just a sore elbow, whether or not I had surgery. It's just a sore elbow."

Wieters described what he's experiencing as "a little muscle soreness." Nothing that's believed to be related to the tendon that's transplanted into the elbow.

"The MRI looked good, looked clean," he said. "They said it was probably just some muscle tissue where it got strained a little bit."

Despite the positive news, Wieters isn't ready to start throwing again.

"No, I'll wait until I knock out all the soreness I have," he said, "and then we'll probably do a little bit of strengthening for a day or two and then throw after that."

The soreness and tightness in the elbow scared Wieters, who was removed for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the first inning. Audry Perez replaced him behind the plate, and he walked to the clubhouse with his equipment bag.

"It was frustrating because you work so hard, but then when I was driving home the other night I kind of realized the expectations are that it could happen to anybody at any time, so we've just got to be able to go out there and have my mind free and clear to be able to play," Wieters said.

No more tests are scheduled for Wieters, who's 2-for-12 this spring.

"It's just how it feels and go from there," he said.

"Just treatment. We're just going to treat it until we get it completely knocked out, which hopefully will be soon, but we'll see how that goes."