Nick Pivetta (elbow) ready to face hitters

Pivetta recorded two strikeouts and allowed just two baserunners, requiring an economical 63 pitches (39) strikes to cruise through five frames in his first start back in the majors since April 12. He gave up some loud contact, including six batted balls with exit velocities over 99 mph, but they didn’t come back to burn him. It was completely justifiable to question whether the 33-year-old veteran starter would make any sort of fantasy impact down the home stretch after such a lengthy layoff, but he seems to have answered those concerns with a strong effort right out of the gate. He’s in line for an extremely favorable matchup against the rebuilding Giants to wrap up a two-start week on Sunday.

This was reported on Sunday, so the Padres have now made the roster moves to make it official. Pivetta last appeared on an MLB mound on April 12th, throwing three scoreless innings against the Rockies before leaving with a flexor strain. He did throw 4 1/3 innings in his last rehab outing, but he’s been out for so long that fantasy managers should expect considerable rust in his first few appearances.

Pivetta was very effective in his last rehab start, striking out seven in 4 1/3 scoreless innings for El Paso. In the outing before that, though, he gave up two homers in three innings in A-ball. There’s little doubt he’d be making at least one more rehab start if we were still in June, but since we’re not, it’s worth giving him a try, especially with Vásquez available to throw several innings behind him if necessary. Pivetta seems pretty risky as a fantasy play, and he might not complete five innings and qualify for a win even if he’s effective.

The 33-year-old right-hander twirled 4 1/3 scoreless frames in his last minor league rehab start at Triple-A El Paso. He was scheduled to throw a bullpen at Petco Park over the weekend and as long as everything goes smoothly, it sounds like his next outing could come with the Padres. Whether he works out of the rotation or the bullpen down the stretch remains to be seen though.

Pivetta struck out four and walked one but also allowed two home runs while throwing 35 of his 47 pitches for strikes. We don’t have much data from High-A parks, but it’s nice to see that Pivetta threw as many strikes as he did and that he ended the outing healthy after having to walk off the mound the last time he was making a rehab start. He should move to Double-A or Triple-A for his next outing, which could come over the weekend.

Pivetta is running out of time to make it back to San Diego, but continues to make gradual progress after an injury scare earlier this month. The 33-year-old has been out with a flexor strain that sent him to the injured list back in mid-April. There’s a chance he makes it back to San Diego at some point in the final month of the year.

The Padres are obviously proceeding with an abundance of caution and will wait to see how Pivetta responds before determining his next steps. The 33-year-old set off alarm bells when he abruptly exited a minor league rehab start, but appears to have avoided serious injury. There’s a chance he’s back in San Diego at some point in the final few weeks of the year. He’s been out since mid-April due to a flexor strain in his elbow.

There was some fear that Pivetta had aggravated his elbow injury when he had ot leave his rehab start early on Tuesday. However, he was able to throw in the bullpen after leaving the game, and Stammen says that it’s “all systems forward” right now. We’ll admit to still being a little worried, but it seems like we’ll get another rehab start from Pivetta next week to track his progress.

Stammen added that Pivetta was able to throw 30 pitches in the bullpen after experiencing some discomfort throughout his warmup process. It’s an encouraging update after Pivetta abruptly exited his first rehab outing. The 33-year-old is working his way back from a flexor strain that put him on the shelf back in mid-April. He’ll be reevaluated later this week to determine that he’s fine from a physical standpoint to continue his rehab assignment. It doesn’t sound like a worst-case scenario. Still, it’s going to be challenging for Pivetta to make it back to San Diego before the regular season concludes.

Pivetta threw a pitch and then immediately walked off the mound and headed to the dugout, which is just very much not good. He was making his first rehab start since suffering a flexor strain in April.