Padres RHP Joe Musgrove will undergo Tommy John surgery after wild card injury

Joe Musgrove will miss the NLDS for the San Diego Padres and much more.

The right-hander will undergo Tommy John surgery after pulling out of his wild-card round start due to strain in his right elbow. Padres general manager AJ Preller told reporters Friday.

Musgrove was effective in the Padres' Game 2 win over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday, allowing just one hit and one run in the fourth inning while striking out four in the second. However, his final pitch was a 76.8 mph curveball, nearly 5 mph below his season average, and Padres catcher Kyle Higashioka noticed something was wrong as Musgrove came to his next pitch.

Musgrove soon left the game with a trainer. The Padres went on to win 5-4, defeat Atlanta and advance to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS.

Without Musgrove, the Padres are left with Dylan Cease, Michael King and Yu Darvish in their rotation. Darvish was announced as a bullpen arm for the wild-card series, but is expected to be promoted for the longer division series. For the fourth starting position, the team could turn to Martin Perez or opt for a bullpen game. Perez posted a 3.46 ERA in 10 starts during the regular season after being acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates at the trade deadline.

Musgrove is a significant loss for San Diego. He missed much of the season due to a bone spur in his elbow, but looked like one of the best pitchers in baseball when he returned in August. As of August 12, he posted a 2.15 ERA and 2.59 FIP with 57 strikeouts in 50 1/3 innings in nine starts. Batters hit .195 against him.

This is the second straight year Musgrove's season ended due to injury, as he missed 2023 with a shoulder injury. Now he expects to miss most, if not all, of 2025 as he recovers from Tommy John surgery.

Despite the loss of Musgrove, the Padres still figure to have a lead in the NLDS given the exceptionally high injury rate of the Dodgers' pitching staff. Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Glasnow, Gavin Stone, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Brusdar Graterol and more are expected to miss the series.