Nick Pivetta’s minor league rehab assignment was halted after just one outing on August 4, as Pivetta left the game due to elbow discomfort. He returned to pitch three innings with A-level Lake Elsinore on August 25, and then 4 1/3 shutout innings with Triple-A El Paso on August 30. The next step is a bullpen session at Petco Park this weekend, with Padres brass on hand to evaluate Pivetta as he looks to be nearing a return to the active roster.
The bullpen session “will set him up for his next start, and that is to be determined where he’ll be starting,” Padres manager Craig Stammen told the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jeff Sanders and other reporters. While Stammen specifically referred to Pivetta as a starter, the manager didn’t rule out the possibility that Pivetta could be used as a reliever, saying “I think all those options are on the table.”
Pivetta posted a 4.50 ERA over 16 innings and four starts for San Diego before a flexor strain sent him to the injured list in mid-April. An extended absence was expected but neither Pivetta or Stammen felt the injury would put the right-hander’s season in jeopardy. While this IL stint has certainly taken longer than Pivetta or anyone with the Padres would’ve hoped, it does look like he’ll be able to make it back to be part of the club’s push for a wild card slot.
Since resuming his rehab assignment, Pivetta has thrown 47 pitches and then 64 pitches over his two outings. A third minor league start would likely see that number bumped into the 80-pitch range, if the plan is to indeed bring Pivetta back as a starting pitcher. Even if Pivetta isn’t fully stretched out, the Padres could use him a limited-capacity starter, with another pitcher slated to log multiple relief innings behind Pivetta in piggyback fashion. Sanders writes that a similar strategy could be in the works for Joe Musgrove, another rehabbing starter who is battling arm fatigue in between his minor league starts.
The deadline additions of Robbie Ray and Casey Mize reinforced a rotation that has been thinned by injuries for virtually the whole season. Between Ray, Mize, staff ace Michael King, Randy Vasquez, and Walker Buehler (who has been pitching much better over the last six weeks), San Diego’s rotation has gone from a question mark to a force. Since the All-Star break, Padres starters have a collective 3.24 ERA — the second-best rotation in baseball during that stretch.
Within this context, a return to form for Pivetta or Musgrove isn’t quite as critical as it may have seemed two months ago, but obviously the Padres want as much quality pitching as possible for the stretch run (and for October if they do secure a playoff spot). San Diego enters Saturday with a slim half-game lead over the Diamondbacks for the final NL wild card.
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