San Diego Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove has yet to appear in a game in the 2023 MLB regular season, but the wait for his return to the mound is soon going to be over, with AJ Cassavell of MLB.com reporting that the right-hander will be making his 2023 MLB debut this coming weekend.

“Joe Musgrove is healthy and fully built up and will make his season debut on Saturday in Arizona, Bob Melvin says. That bumps Yu Darvish back to Sunday.”

Musgrove started the season on the 15-day injured list because of a broken toe he suffered last February. He initially tried to aggressively approach his recovery process with the hopes of making it to the roster on Opening Day, he eventually ended up having a trip to the injured list to begin the 2023 campaign. Amid his absence from the Padres, Joe Musgrove has been busy rehabbing in the minors.

His expected start on Saturday will be in the third leg of a four-game series on the road against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Back in 2022, Joe Musgrove was among the best in the entire big leagues. He posted a 10-7 record with a 2.93 ERA and 127 ERA+ across 181.0 innings and 30 starts.  He also earned his first career All-Star nod that season in which he averaged 9.1 strikeouts per nine innings and posted a 1.083 WHIP. Musgrove's looming return to San Diego's roster will be a very much welcome development for the Padres, who, at the time of this writing, are only 16th in the majors with a 4.50 starters ERA.