PEORIA, Ariz. — This was strange.
Maybe not Steve Garvey strange. Probably closer to Mike Piazza strange.
Regardless, just really super strange.
Walker Buehler, dressed in white pants with brown piping, a brown long-sleeved top and gold cap, stood on Tuesday morning in front of his new locker inside the Padres spring training clubhouse.
“Yeah, it feels a little weird,” Buehler said. “I imagine five years ago it would have been a lot more weird. But this is a crazy game, and this is a great opportunity for me to again be a part of a really talented baseball club. And that’s what I’m here to do.”
Buehler was sure to point out that has yet to be accomplished, as he is in camp on a minor-league contract agreed to Monday.
The 31-year-old right-hander is being given an opportunity to make the starting rotation, one of a group of what is likely five pitchers vying for what is almost certainly one available spot at the start of the season.
Buehler smiled when asked if he has thought about being on the other side of the Padres-Dodgers rivalry.
“Not yet,” he said. “We’ll make the team first, and then try and get back into that.”
Only at the end of Buehler’s time in blue was it actually a rivalry, in that the Dodgers won almost 70% of the games between the teams from 2018 through 2021.
Those were Buehler’s first four full seasons in the major leagues, and he went 6-0 with a 1.49 ERA in 10 starts against the Padres in that span. His first career start against them, in Monterrey, Mexico, he threw the first six innings of what would end up a combined no-hitter.
Buehler did not face the Padres in 2022 before Tommy John surgery ended that season and caused him to miss the next.
In 2024, he had one good start (one run in five innings) and one bad start (three runs in 3⅓ innings) against the Padres. In all, he had a 1.80 ERA in 12 starts (75 innings) against them while pitching for the Dodgers.
The only Dodgers pitcher to have pitched at least 75 innings against the Padres and had a lower ERA than Buehler was Charlie Hough, who posted a 1.76 mark from 1971 to 1980.
“Excited to see what he’s got and see him compete,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “And hopefully (he will) bring some of those good games that we saw him pitch against us … for us.”
The Padres don’t know what to expect. They saw him throw twice this winter and were impressed enough (and in enough need) to take what is a virtually no-risk flier.
If a guy who was one of the best pitchers in the major leagues five years ago but has mostly struggled in his return from a second Tommy John surgery can pitch well enough to make the team, he will have a base salary of $1.5 million. The most he can make, based on performance escalators included in his contract, is $4 million.
Buehler averaged 95 mph on his fastball last season and, according to people who have seen him throw, is consistently hitting 93 mph now. Those who have seen him throw say he is commanding the fastball better than in the past couple of seasons.
Walker Buehler and Joe Musgrove #44 of the San Diego Padres walk to the field during spring training workouts at the Peoria Sports Complex on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 in Peoria, Ariz.(Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The velocity, down from his average of nearly 96 mph before his latest elbow surgery, is something the Padres believe could possibly tick up slightly with some mechanical adjustments. Moreover, they believe pitching coach Ruben Niebla can help Buehler with efficiency and consistency in his delivery.
“Getting the velocity back as well as the delivery has kind of been the big thing,” Buehler said. “And the second half of last year was relatively successful compared to the first half. And there’s obviously some stuff we want to continue to build on there and get some of the velocity, the explosiveness — whatever you want to call it — back.”
In 201⅓ innings with the Dodgers, Red Sox and Phillies since his 2024 return, Buehler has a 5.10 ERA and 1.53 WHIP, up from 3.02 and 1.04, respectively, through 2022. The troubling underlying numbers (besides his velocity) are a walk rate of 9.8% (up from 6.3% through ‘22), an 18% miss rate (down from 24% through ‘22) and a 17.2% strikeout rate (down from 27% through ‘22).
After topping off his Dodgers career with six shutout innings in their 2024 World Series win over the Yankees, including a perfect ninth inning in the clinching victory, Buehler signed a one-year, $21.05 million deal with the Red Sox last offseason.
He was released in late August after a brief move to the bullpen, having posted a 5.40 ERA over 22 starts (110 innings). In his third-to-last start for the Red Sox, he shut out the Padres over six innings at Petco Park. In three games (two starts) for the Phillies in September, Buehler allowed one run in 13⅔ innings, even though most underlying numbers did not appreciably improve.
“My elbow and my body (have) kind of been through some stuff,” Buehler said. “Kind of took a different approach and moved out here for the offseason and got my body in a little bit better spot. I liked a lot of the stuff that I was kind of working on in Philadelphia, and I just didn’t stop throwing and kind of kept working through some of that stuff. And I feel like the delivery is a lot closer to what it was kind of pre-’22.”
The Padres can hope.