San Diego Padres veteran pitcher Yu Darvish hasn't pitched yet in the 2025 MLB season, but he's taking steps forward in his injury rehab again after a recent setback. Darvish told reporters Sunday he's set to throw a bullpen session on either Monday or Tuesday after tossing “six or seven pitches” on Saturday, according to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Saturday's bullpen session featured velocity in the “mid-80s.” The next one will ramp up the intensity and feature more pitches as Darvish works toward his season debut.

The Padres were hoping Darvish would be pitching again for the big club by now, but a sharp Triple-A rehab start on May 14 resulted in elbow tightness afterward. The 38-year-old wasn't comfortable moving forward in his rehab because of that, pushing his return timetable back.

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It's unclear just when Darvish will return at this point, but it's good to see him progressing again. San Diego could use another arm with Michael King now injured as well and Dylan Cease not at the top of his game so far this season.

The Padres are currently in second place in the loaded NL West, but they have cooled off after their red-hot start to the year. San Diego held records of 7-0, 15-4 and 27-15 earlier in the season, but now the record stands at 32-24. That means the Padres have effectively been a .500 team since their 7-0 start, and they've been losing more than winning in recent weeks.

Yu Darvish is in his fifth season with San Diego after coming over from the Chicago Cubs. The righty has been up and down as a member of the Padres, with his best campaign coming in 2022 when he won 16 games with a 3.10 ERA in nearly 195 innings. His ERA ballooned to 4.56 in 2023, and then last season he managed to pitch just 81 2/3 innings due to injury.