MUSGROVE’S PROGRESS EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS

Bullpen session 12 days after toe injury big step in big shoe

The smiles told much of the story.

So did the fact that Joe Musgrove was talking with bullpen catcher Pete Summerville and pitching coach Ruben Niebla about how his pitches felt coming out of his hand — and not about how his left big toe felt when it hit the ground.

Musgrove is on his way back, further along 12 days after fracturing his left big toe than pretty much anyone thought possible.

“I don’t even know how to begin to talk about the progress he’s making,” Bob Melvin said Saturday morning.

A couple hours after his manager expressed his incredulity, Musgrove walked off the mound in the bullpen at the Peoria Sports Complex having thrown 25 pitches and declared that his intention is to miss no more than one start at the beginning of the season.

“The progression has really increased over the last couple days of like throwing and ramping up activity and physical stuff I’m able to do,” Musgrove said. “I feel like it matches with the way I’ve been feeling over the last couple days. Since I got the nail off on Monday, every day has been drastically better. A lot of the sensitivity and pain in there is gone. Now it’s just dealing with the fracture, so it feels like the bone bruise kind of discomfort but nothing that’s inhibiting or causing any delivery hitches or anything. Everything feels pretty normal.”

Musgrove, who was likely going to be the Padres’ opening-day starter before getting hurt, returned from seeing a specialist in San Diego on Monday. He wore shoes for the first time Tuesday and played catch Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. He did so for the first time Friday while wearing a size 16 cleat on his left foot and his regular size 14 on his right foot.

The order to Nike was so rushed that the new cleat does not match his custommade original.

While Musgrove is shooting for pitching the first week of April, what will not be rushed is the process of his returning.

“Ideally, I would like to go out there and throw four or five innings in my first start,” Musgrove said. “I’m not gonna put the team in a spot where we’re not in a good spot with arms and just running out there for my own ego. But I think realistically I could miss maybe the first

start of the year and then be back. We’re gonna try to progress this thing as safely as possible but as rapidly as we can and make sure we’re doing the right things.”

Musgrove was idle for just two days after his accident on Feb. 27, in which a 35-pound kettlebell fell on his foot. He then resumed throwing weighted balls against a wall.

He has also been driving 40 minutes each way to lie in a hyperbaric chamber for a couple hours twice a day and has adhered to an iron-rich, low-salt diet that promotes healing.

“I said I was a quick healer,” Musgrove said. “I felt I was gonna be fast. Obviously, a little bit of that is just kind of hope and trying to put the right vibe out in the universe. But we really did absolutely everything we could do throughout this process. The medical team was unbelievable. I gotta give a shout out to Adrian (Halmagean), our chef. … Just the whole organization has really gone like above and beyond to make sure I have everything possible. The stuff is very expensive, and it is time consuming, but they put everything into us getting back on the field, and it’s really paid off.”

Niebla watched every move Musgrove made while in the bullpen, and the team will electronically monitor his spin rates and body movements in upcoming throwing sessions to make sure all is normal and Musgrove is not compensating in some way. He is likely headed to San Diego this week for a biomechanics screening to make sure he is moving the same as always.

“But for now everything — to the eye — looks really good,” he said.

With the larger shoe and his big toe wrapped like a lightbulb in tape and gauze, Musgrove estimated the pain in his toe to be a two on a scale of 10.

“Certain reps that I hit it a little different, it doesn’t feel as great,” he said. “But overall, yeah, very, very little discomfort.”

“I felt I was gonna be fast. Obviously, a little bit of that is just kind of hope and trying to put the right vibe out in the universe.” Joe Musgrove • Padres starter on his healing process

Joe Musgrove