San Diego Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove is expected to open the season on the injured list after he was slow to recover from his return start March 4 start at spring training.

Musgrove missed all of last season following Tommy John surgery and made his return to the mound in an exhibition game against Great Britain’s World Baseball Classic team at Peoria, Ariz., during the first week of March.

He went two-plus innings with three strikeouts and allowed a run on five singles, with a fastball that reached 95 mph.

“I’ve talked to a lot of guys that say they don’t feel normal or don’t feel back to themselves (until) about that two-year mark,” Musgrove said after the outing. “I’ve got all these things that I’m aware of, but I’m not really trying to put myself into one of those classes right now. I’m kind of just taking the ball every fifth day and see how I recover and adjust as we go.”

But Musgrove has not thrown a baseball since, with Padres manager Craig Stammen telling reporters Monday that his starter is expected to be on the IL when San Diego opens its season March 26 at home against the Detroit Tigers.

When he last pitched in 2024, Musgrove was 6-5 with a 3.88 ERA in 19 regular-season starts. He was pulled early from a wild-card round game against the Atlanta Braves on Oct. 2 and diagnosed with a torn UCL two days later.

Over nine seasons with the Houston Astros (2016-17), Pittsburgh Pirates (2018-20) and Padres, Musgrove is 66-62 with a 3.73 ERA in 206 appearances (180 starts).

–Field Level Media