The San Diego Padres are desperate for young starting pitching right now—as is every other team in baseball, for that matter—and they may get an assist from pitcher Tucker Musgrove (no relation to Joe Musgrove), who was rated the Padres' top sleeper prospect by Baseball America.
Musgrove isn’t a typical prospect story by any means. According to Peter Flaherty of Baseball America, he’s a scouting success story who was selected in the seventh round by the Padres out of NAIA Mobile. That’s not exactly a hotbed for pitching prospects, and like many prospects, he missed a season, in 2024, recovering from Tommy John surgery.
The right-hander had a solid season in at Single A Lake Elsinore last year for the Padres, but Musgrove really started to get noticed in the Arizona Fall League.
His debut was eye-popping. Facing Tigers top infield prospect Kevin McGonigle, Tucker threw an 83-mph slider for a ball, then countered that with a pair of 99-mph four-seamers for strikes one and two to tilt the count in his favor. He followed that with a 99-mph sinker that McGonigle could only wave at to finish off the strikeout.
That kind of arsenal gets noticed, and his high-spin fastball generated a 39 percent miss rate in 2025, and his sweeper is also a viable swing-and-miss pitch, according to Flaherty. As a result, Musgrove is being described as one of the more intriguing arms in the Padres system.
He’s viewed as a reliever, and Musgrove’s fastball also gets on hitters in a hurry. He offers elite extension at 6’ 9”, and San Diego’s big focus now is on getting the former two-way player healthy.
“The biggest focus right now is on the health aspect and getting him back pitching,” said Padres assistant farm director Mike Daly back in November “We’re excited with how he finished the year and excited how he’s doing in the Fall League.”
The evaluation process will continue at the next level, and while it will be a while before Padres fans can see Musgrove at Petco, his development is an important organizational focus going forward. The Padres have a reputation for trading prospects, but they might want to hold on to Musgrove for a bit.
“The big thing is this is the first time we’ve had the opportunity to evaluate him,” Daly said. “. . . It’s a big win getting him (into the AFL). He’ll come into 2026 as a starter in A-ball and go forward.”