"Scott Kazmir has spent the past month trying to get in touch with something that has been just as elusive as his fastball's velocity and his slider's bite.

"I'm just trying to be myself," the Angels left-hander said Sunday while packing his things for a trip to Triple-A Salt Lake City, where he will begin a long-delayed minor-league injury-rehabilitation assignment on Tuesday.

"I just feel like the past couple of years I was trying so hard but something didn't feel right. You go out there without as much confidence because you're changing something all the time, trying to find that feeling. I'm just trying to be myself now – get back to seeing the (catcher's) glove and hitting the mitt."

The Angels put Kazmir on the DL after just one start this season. The move was ostensibly made due to stiffness in his lower back, but Kazmir's extended stay in extended spring training camp was more about him trying to rediscover a way to get major-league hitters out. He spent a month there, including a handful of starts in camp games before rejoining the Angels (briefly) on Sunday.

"I feel a lot better, felt like I made a lot of strides," Kazmir said. "It was important to get into some games. The competition helped me out a lot. You can throw all the bullpens you want. Having a hitter in there is different.

"I definitely think I'm on the right track."

There were no epiphanies during his month in Arizona, Kazmir said, and there is nothing dramatically different about his mechanics. The changes have been more about "feel" and confidence, he said, and the month-long stay in Arizona was "what I had to do because what I was throwing up there, I really didn't have anything to get hitters out and that's not a good feeling."

"It's really not anything I can be too specific about," he said. "There were a lot of bad habits I'd gotten into, searching for answers. I think what's gotten me in trouble at times was forcing some things thinking, 'Hey, it's this or maybe this.' It's almost like you're trying too hard and you end up thinking something that's not an issue is an issue."