The San Diego Padres welcomed starterJoe Musgrove back to the bump, and the occasion was auspicious, as the Padres played an exhibition game against Great Britain before the latter team plays its first game in the WBC.
For Musgrove, it was the first time he’s piched since undergoing Tommy John surgery back in 2024, but Musgrove wasn’t all that celebratory about the appearance.
“To me, this is another step,” Musgrove said in an account written by AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. “I think getting in a big league game, facing big league hitters in the big stadium, night game, things like that will be another adjustment. For me, this was just: I’m still checking boxes and building up.”
The Padres should be forgiven if they were feeling good about seeing Musgrove pitch again. He looked like himself, throwing a 95 mph fastball past Jazz Chisolm Jr., according to Cassavell. He also used his cutter and curve well as Musgrove went for two-plus innings, allowing a run on five hits with three strikeouts. The writer added that better fielding behind him would have allowed Musgrove to escape from the inning unscathed.
The game ended in a 2-2 tie, but the important thing was that Musgrove came out of the outing healthy. His velocity was solid at 93-94, and he got swings and misses with his breaking ball. Moreover, everything was within the parameters that have been set up for Musgrave’s acclimation process.
“I liked the shapes of my stuff,” Musgrove said. “Just command-wise, a little bit off from where I need to be.”
He also mentioned the pace of the game, which felt faster than it did before the surgery. That’s normal, too, but as Cassavell pointed out, these exhibition starts are specifically designed to deal with those kinds of issues.
“I’ve been working at a very casual pace for the last couple months,” Musgrove said. “Overall, I felt pretty good though. My stuff felt good.”
The writer also noted how badly the Padres need Musgrove. Starters Nick Pivetta and Michael King headline the top of the rotation, but the Padres need Musgrove to join them and provide more than just innings.
“It’s more what he means to the entire team, just who he is as a person, how he represents the city of San Diego, how he represents the Padres,” manager Craig Stammen said. “He is who we want to be like, who we want to be about.”
That reads like some heady hyperbole, but the Padres want Musgrove back to his old form in September and possibly October, not in a March exhibition game. Musgrove has realistic expectations, though, which is a plus at this point in his process.
“I don’t expect to make 180-200 innings,” Musgrove said. “But I expect to be able to take the ball throughout the year and be productive.”