Joe Musgrove has begun throwing again

San Diego Padres starter Joe Musgrove was in the bullpen during team introductions on Opening Day. Along with the rest of the starting pitchers, Musgrove was there to support Nick Pivetta before his start. He had already done his work for the day, revealing in pre-game interviews that he has begun playing catch.

Musgrove started an exhibition game against the Great Britain World Baseball Classic team on March 4 and hasn’t appeared in a game since. He had a bullpen on March 8 and hadn’t thrown since then until this week. He revealed that an MRI was done on his repaired right elbow about two weeks ago and showed no new issues.

In his usual effort to be honest and forthcoming, Musgrove was unwilling to put any timeline on his progression to returning to pitching. He knew that what he was feeling during spring work wasn’t what he wanted his arm to feel like but kept hoping that things would improve and he would “breakthrough. ” That never happened and it was decided to put his throwing program on pause, giving his arm a chance to rest and recover from the inflammation that seemed apparent.

President of baseball operations A. J. Preller seemed optimistic when speaking about Musgrove’s status: “It’s not like he’s been down for six to eight weeks, so hopefully he can get going here,” he said Thursday in his media availability.