Musgrove to join loaded hometown team

‘Representing the city that I grew up in … it’s extremely special’

Joe Musgrove grew up going to Padres games at Qualcomm Stadium with his father, Mark, who bought season tickets above the rightfield wall when San Diego moved into Petco Park. The first foul ball the younger Musgrove caught came from former Padre Mark Kotsay. Meanwhile, there’s a baseball tattooed on Joe’s arm — a design he drew — that has “SD” along with his last name and birth year (1992).

So, yeah. Musgrove was understandably geeked when he learned Monday afternoon that he had been traded from the Pirates to his hometown Padres for a package of five prospects.

“To be back in my hometown and representing the city that I grew up in and where all my dreams started, it’s extremely special,” Musgrove said on a Zoom call Tuesday night.

But America’s Finest City isn’t the only one with special meaning for Musgrove, who will slide into the No. 5 spot of San Diego’s stacked rotation. As it turns out, the 28-year-old clubhouse leader for the Pirates also had quite an affinity for Pittsburgh, even though success was scarce during Musgrove’s time here.

“I feel like my personality and how I was raised really fit in Pittsburgh,” Musgrove said. “I’m bummed that I didn’t get a chance to make a postseason run with that team and experience what that stadium is like in the postseason. But there was so much growth for me there.”

The thing that challenged Musgrove the most was the role he assumed with the Pirates, that of a leader. After arriving in Pittsburgh via the Gerrit Cole trade with the Houston Astros in January 2018, Musgrove went from a World Series-winning club to one struggling to find its way.

There, he was a bullpen piece. In Pittsburgh, Musgrove was a starter, a front-of -the-rotation type and someone whose voice carried weight in the clubhouse.

“Certainly everyone sees that he’s been a really good pitcher for the Pirates,” general manager Ben Cherington said of Musgrove on Tuesday. “I’ve gotten to know him now for a little over a year and really do admire him as a pitcher, as a teammate, as a person.”

Given the situation into which Musgrove is stepping, he might not need a ton of luck. The Padres, with general manager A.J. Preller becoming the story of the offseason for his aggressiveness, are poised to compete with the Dodgers atop the National

League.

The rotation ahead of Musgrove figures to be Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Dinelson Lamet and Chris Paddack, each capable of anchoring a rotation. Musgrove said he wants to fall in line, be a sponge and discover ways to improve his performance.

“Just getting to learn from these guys, man,” he said. “That’s one of the most exciting things about a trade. You get a whole new clubhouse, a new staff full of minds with different experiences, different philosophies, different theories on approaches. You feel like you’re making your debut all over again.”

Musgrove looked to be on cloud nine when he met with the media. He talked about how his mother, Diane, was thrilled to be able to cook for him. It was also a big deal for Mark, who battles mobility issues, to be able to see his son pitch live so frequently.

And for the local kid, Musgrove gets to join perhaps baseball’s hottest team, charged with bringing a championship to San Diego.

“Absolutely, man,” Musgrove responded when asked whether he thought his new team could win the World Series. “There are so many things that make up a championship-caliber team, and this team seems to have every one of them.”