Padres' Joe Musgrove Finally Takes First Big Step Toward Return

The San Diego Padres have finally gotten some good news regarding the ongoing injury problems to starting pitcher Joe Musgrove.

Musgrove had been on track to return to the team following Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for the entire 2025 season. But during spring training, he suffered a setback and was forced to shut everything down to deal with the problem.

At first, this issue didn't seem like it would go too far into the season, but Musgrove still hasn't made his debut for the team.

However, the right-hander has finally started to increase his activity in his recovery, and he plans to play catch this coming week, according to Padres insider Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Musgrove has been taking his time in this recovery to make sure that there aren't any more setbacks.

There has been some speculation around the club that Musgrove may not come back this season at all. But Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller shut down these rumors recently when speaking on 97.3 The Fan.

"I've seen speculation that those guys or Joe is not going to be back this year. That's not the case at all. It just takes some time, and we're being conservative, making sure those guys feel good and they check every box when they come back," Preller said.

.@BenAndWoods asked AJ Preller for the latest update on when we can expect to see Nick Pivetta and Joe Musgrove return to the Padres: pic.twitter.com/avRyjrEKWz
— 97.3 The Fan (@973TheFanSD) May 15, 2026

When the setback to Musgrove happened, there was real concern around the Padres, mainly due to the team already having some uncertainty with the starting pitchers.

But San Diego has been able to keep itself very competitive with all the different injuries to pitchers, staying right with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West division.

So if the Padres are able to get a player like Musgrove back for the stretch run of the season, it would be a massive boost to the rotation.

Before his injury, Musgrove was one of the key pitchers for the Padres, posting an ERA of 3.88 over 19 starts in 2024.

The right-hander isn't the only pitcher on the Padres who has gone down with injury, as Nick Pivetta, Germán Márquez and Matt Waldron are all out too. But the Padres seem to be focused on getting healthy for the most crucial part of the year, and this team could be very scary if that happens.

Musgrove and Pivetta will likely return sometime after the All-Star break, assuming all goes well in their recovery. If the Padres are able to remain afloat until then, they could be in position to do some serious damage in the second half of the year.

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