Padres Notebook: Walker Buehler’s Strong Spring Showing Signals Key Role in Padres Rotation Battle

The fifth spot in San Diego’s starting rotation may have been claimed after right-hander Walker Buehler tossed five scoreless innings against the San Francisco Giants on Monday afternoon in Peoria. The once Los Angeles Dodgers ace, who signed a minor league deal with the Padres in February, struck out seven batters and lowered his spring ERA to 3.09 through three Cactus League starts.

Buehler’s fastball velocity was sitting between 91 to 93 mph with good tilt on his breaking pitches. As the hurler continues to embrace a more finesse-based style of pitching as opposed to overpowering opposing hitters at the plate, he spoke postgame on his pitch mix against San Francisco:

“Yeah, I mean it’s kinda a use it or lose it situation. I would love to throw it 100 [mph] as I’ve said a million times, but we’ve gotta use it a little more selectively than we used to," Buehler said of his fastball usage.

“My strengths are on the outside of the ball and spinning it. The new slider has really helped out as well, kinda two new mid-speed pitches that are putting some more pressure on guys to either choose hard or soft," he added.

On 77 total pitches thrown on Monday, Buehler landed 45 of them for strikes. He and Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla have worked on off-speed pitch shapes reminiscent of his stuff from 2021, which he cites as a more comfortable approach. 

Manager Craig Stammen spoke with the media before Monday’s contest versus San Francisco and clarified that filling out rotation spots will “probably" be addressed the day before Opening Day. As it stands, Buehler’s name has to be near or at the top of the list to break camp with the big league squad.

Joe Musgrove lands on IL, will not be ready for Opening Day

Not surprisingly, but a bit concerning, a situation emerged out of Padres camp on Monday: it was confirmed that pitcher Joe Musgrove will begin the regular season on the injured list. Musgrove, 33, had been tabbed as day-to-day after being shut down from throwing activities.

The San Diego native last threw during a bullpen session, four days after pitching against Great Britain’s WBC squad in an exhibition game on March 4. With under two weeks left until the Friars open the ’26 campaign against Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers at Petco Park, Musgrove’s unknown timetable does not give him a proper ramp-up to be available for the season-opening homestand.

Musgrove’s absence will open an opportunity for one of Germán Márquez, Triston McKenzie, Marco Gonzales, or JP Sears to make a final push to be included in the Padres’ early-season plans. 

Although unlikely, a late Spring Training trade for a starting pitcher can’t be ruled out when it comes to San Diego GM A.J. Preller. The enigmatic executive has swung buzzer-beating swaps in the past, acquiring lefty Sean Manaea from the Athletics a week before the start of the 2022 regular season and most recently dealing for hard-throwing starter Dylan Cease as the club was boarding a flight to Seoul, South Korea, for their season-opening series in ’24. 

Right-handed veteran Lucas Giolito also remains as an intriguing option on the open market as well. It does remain unclear, however, what Giolito’s contract demands would be, given the late stages of spring camp.