Padres' Right-Hander Might Pitch With Bone Spur For Rest of His Career

Maren Angus-Coombs | Aug 15, 2024

Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Joe Musgrove was fantastic on Monday against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was his first big league start since May 26 and he threw 4.1 innings of scoreless baseball.

His outing was impressive considering he only made one real rehab start and retooled his delivery over the past two months.

Musgrove missed the last 2.5 months because of elbow issues and he will have to pitch with some of those issues for the foreseeable future.

The right-hander has been pitching with a bone spur in his pitching elbow for quite some time and he plans to continue pitching with it for as long as he can. That could mean the rest of playing career — and he wouldn't be the first pitcher to do that.

Joe Musgrove throws 4.1 scoreless innings in his first start since May 26th. pic.twitter.com/NpuJrSk6du

— MLB (@MLB) August 13, 2024

Musgrove has had the spur for years and he believes it became an issue when he began throwing a sweeper. The bone spur wasn't the issue with his elbow, however. There was a bone bruise, and his first IL stint was attributed to triceps tendinitis.

The veteran could have arthroscopic surgery to remove the bone spur. It isn't a major procedure but there is a risk. Sometimes a pitcher’s arm can develop more range of motion, which means their UCL is stretched more.

According to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, it is Musgrove’s understanding that something like 20-25 percent of pitchers who have surgery to remove bone spurs end up having Tommy John surgery.

“I’m doing everything I can to avoid that,” Musgrove said. “… I’ve been really good at avoiding the elbow issues throughout my career — the serious ones. So I’m not going to do anything to make me more susceptible to it.”

As far as his delivery changes go, he has closed off his shoulders more and is using his legs more to alleviate stress on his elbow.

The adjustments Musgrove made appear to have paid off.

“It just felt good, man,” Musgrove said afterward. “I mean, this is where I feel the best. Obviously, with the way we’re playing, I want to be part of that. I want to contribute. So, yeah, it felt incredible to be back out there.”

Musgrove only threw 63 pitches Monday but he threw all of his pitches. His fastball was as hard as it has been all season and he threw strikes.

Musgrove entered the game with only 10 starts under his belt this season and with a 5.66 ERA. He spent two weeks on the injured list in April and made another two in May before having to be shut down.