Padres' Joe Musgrove Suffers Minor Setback With New Injury, Return Pushed Back

Right-hander Joe Musgrove suffered a minor setback in his already long recovery process to return to the San Diego Padres.

Musgrove had a minor back injury come up before his next rehab appearance at Triple-A. The Padres want to be very careful with the veteran pitcher, especially since he's been out since the end of the 2024 season following Tommy John surgery.

In his last outing, Musgrove was able to throw 97 mph, which was the hardest pitch he's thrown since 2017. The right-hander went 4.2 innings, allowing five runs on 70 pitches.

Musgrove has been out due to an elbow injury, making the new back issue a little concerning. But the right-hander did confirm that it seems to be just a tweak, and he'll be back on the mound soon.

“I came out of it a little more sore than normal, nothing drastic, but picked up a little back injury, like a tweak in the gym that put me out for like a day or two,” Musgrove said on Friday. “Just having trouble rotating, but that’s all cleared up. I feel like I’m back to normal, so hopefully bullpen [Saturday] and then look at the schedule and our next rehab start.”

San Diego has Musgrove scheduled to throw a bullpen this weekend at Petco Park before he makes another minor league rehab start. Musgrove's return still looks imminent for the Padres despite the minor hiccup.

When Will Joe Musgrove Return?

While the Padres haven't announced a firm date for Musgrove's return, the team hopes he can return in September. With Musgrove heading back on another rehab start this coming week, he could return to the team early next month.

Musgrove has battled multiple setbacks thoughout this entire process, leading to a lot of frustration around it all. But Musgrove is now healthy, with manager Craig Stammen excited to get his ace back on the mound.

“His main number one thing is getting back to being who we know Joe Musgrove is,” Stammen said. “And then we’ll decide when he pitches after that. … We want him to have that success, to be that guy he wants to be and not a lesser version of himself. We have the ability with the new pitching additions at the trade deadline to get him to where we need him to be — one of those guys we can count on.”

Adding Musgrove to a staff of Casey Mize, Robbie Ray, Michael King, Walker Buehler and others will give the Padres plenty of pitching depth.

With the playoffs slowly approaching, getting Musgrove back with enough time for him to ramp up in starts will be crucial. San Diego has placed itself right back into the postseason race, and if they can add the right-hander to the mix, this could be an even more dangerous group.

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