Nick Pivetta nearing Padres return after bullpen session at Petco Park

What happened

Nick Pivetta is reportedly nearing a return to the San Diego Padres' active roster, with a bullpen session at Petco Park this weekend serving as the next checkpoint in his recovery from a flexor strain, per MLB Trade Rumors' Mark Polishuk. Padres brass is expected to be on hand to evaluate the right-hander following the session.

The road back has been longer than anyone in the organization anticipated. Pivetta's minor league rehab assignment was halted after a single outing on August 4, when he left the game with elbow discomfort. He resumed that assignment on August 25, throwing three innings with A-level Lake Elsinore, then followed that with 4 1/3 shutout innings for Triple-A El Paso on August 30. The bullpen session at Petco Park represents the next step in that progression.

Why it matters

The Padres are sitting at 74-67 (.525), 10 games back in the NL West, and squarely in the middle of a wild card chase. Every arm that can be returned to a rotation thinned by injuries for virtually the entire season carries real operational weight. Pivetta, when healthy, is a starting pitcher — but per Polishuk's report, the exact shape of his return is still being worked out.

Padres manager Craig Stammen addressed the situation directly, telling the San Diego Union-Tribune's Jeff Sanders and other reporters that the upcoming session would position Pivetta for his next start, though where that start would take place had not yet been determined. Stammen referred to Pivetta specifically as a starter, but he did not close the door on a relief role, saying "I think all those options are on the table." That is the kind of managerial non-answer that is technically accurate and operationally honest at the same time.

The numbers

Before the flexor strain sent him to the injured list in mid-April, Pivetta had made four starts for San Diego, covering 16 innings and carrying a 4.50 ERA. Since resuming his rehab assignment, he has thrown 47 pitches and then 64 pitches across his two outings — a pitch-count arc that suggests the club is building him back methodically.

Per Polishuk's report, a third minor league start would likely push that number into the 80-pitch range if the plan is to bring Pivetta back as a starting pitcher. Even if he is not fully stretched out by the time the Padres want him back, the report notes that a piggyback arrangement is possible — Pivetta pitching in a limited-capacity starting role with another arm slated to follow him for multiple relief innings.

Since the All-Star break, Padres starters have posted a collective 3.24 ERA — the second-best rotation in baseball during that stretch, per Polishuk's report. The club sits at 74-67 (.525), on a one-game winning streak, and the rotation has been a meaningful part of that turnaround.

Where the club stands

San Diego is 74-67 (.525), second in the NL West and 10 games back in the division, with the wild card as the more realistic path. The Padres are currently riding a one-game winning streak heading into a home series against the New York Yankees at Petco Park, with Robbie Ray scheduled against Carlos Rodón on Saturday and Michael King lined up opposite Gerrit Cole on Sunday. Washington comes to Petco Park on Monday.

That rotation — Ray, King, Randy Vasquez, Walker Buehler, and deadline addition Casey Mize — is the same group that has produced that 3.24 ERA since the All-Star break. The deadline additions of Ray and Mize, per Polishuk, reinforced a staff that had been operating shorthanded for months. Buehler, the report notes, has been pitching much better over the last six weeks. Pivetta back in that mix, even in a limited or piggyback role, would give Stammen more flexibility as the schedule tightens.

What we don't know yet

The bullpen session this weekend is an evaluation, not a clearance. Whether Pivetta returns as a starter, a piggyback option, or a reliever has not been determined, and Stammen's comments suggest the club is keeping its options open rather than committing to a plan. The timing of any return to the active roster has not been reported.

The situation with Joe Musgrove adds another layer of uncertainty. Per Polishuk's report, a similar piggyback strategy could be in the works for Musgrove, who is battling arm fatigue between his minor league starts. That context matters: the Padres may be managing two rehabbing starters simultaneously, both of whom could return in reduced roles rather than as traditional multi-inning starters.

Musgrove's situation has been unsettled for longer than Pivetta's. In the days leading up to this report, MLB.com and the Padres' official channel noted that Musgrove's return had been pushed back again due to right arm soreness, and subsequent reporting indicated he was frustrated with his recovery and that the club was weighing alternative roles for his potential return. Whether Musgrove makes it back at all in 2026 remains uncertain; Pivetta's trajectory, by contrast, looks considerably more encouraging at this stage.

What to watch

The bullpen session at Petco Park this weekend is the immediate thing to monitor. If Pivetta comes through it cleanly with Padres brass watching, the next question becomes whether he gets a third minor league start — which would push his pitch count toward 80 — or whether the club decides it has seen enough and moves toward bringing him back in some capacity.

The piggyback question is worth watching too. If both Pivetta and Musgrove return in limited roles, Stammen will need to identify which starters absorb the extra innings behind them. With Ray and King already slotted for the Yankees series this weekend, the back end of the rotation is where the puzzle pieces are still being arranged.

Under general league rules, clubs can carry up to 28 players from September 1 through the end of the regular season, which gives Stammen more room to carry an extra arm or two as he works out how to deploy his returning pitchers. Whether that flexibility gets used on Pivetta in the next week or two is precisely the question the bullpen session is designed to answer.