PEORIA, Ariz. — Joe Musgrove got into the third inning, threw his 35th pitch and asked for another one.
That offering was popped up to the edge of the dirt on the infield to bring Musgrove’s simulated game to a close Thursday morning.
Mission accomplished.
“Get the third up, see how the body responds,” Musgrove said afterward. “… To know that I can feel fatigued and my stuff doesn’t suffer too much.”
The 33-year-old right-hander, who missed last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in October 2024, recorded nine outs against 12 batters (which were all taken by Luis Campusano and Anthony Vilar). Musgrove was particularly sharp in a 12-pitch first inning, hitting 95 mph with his fastball and locating his slider and sinker extremely well on the arm-side edge of the plate (inside against right-handed batters).
“Everything outside the changeup,” he said. “Curveballs felt good. Working on that new slider still. There were some good ones, a little inconsistent, but saw the shapes I wanted. … I’m coming out out of this feeling the best I have felt.”
Musgrove had a 3.88 ERA and struck out 101 batters in 99⅔ innings 19 starts while pitching through elbow pain in 2024.
He was peaking at the end, right up until his elbow would not allow him to go any longer.
He allowed two runs across 18 innings over his past three starts in the regular season and had allowed one run to the Braves when he walked off the mound after throwing a pitch with two outs in the fourth inning of Game 2 of the National League Wild Card Series.
Musgrove’s 3.20 ERA ranked 10th and his 4.13 strikeout-to-walk ratio 13th among major league starters from 2021 through ‘24 even as he battled various injuries in ‘23 and the elbow discomfort in ‘24.
The Padres are counting on him to be at least close to that pitcher this season, even as they monitor his workload early.
“Full-go but watch him,” pitching coach Ruben Niebla said recently of the approach.
Musgrove believes his next time on a mound in a game situation will be an actual Cactus League start.
“I’ll see how I feel tomorrow, see what they think, see how the pen goes,” he said. “It’s kind of all day-to-day. So I’ll probably be slated to be in the game over there, and then if things change or I feel like something is not right, and then we’ll push it back.”