Coming home: Padres' Musgrove wears No. 44 to honor Peavy

When Joe Musgrove reported to spring training to start his sixth big league season, a brown and gold No. 44 San Diego Padres jersey was hanging in his locker.

The No. 44 is a nod to Jake Peavy, the fiery right-hander Musgrove grew up cheering for. Musgrove continued to follow his hometown Padres even as his big league career unfolded elsewhere, and now he’ll get to pitch at Petco Park as part of a powerhouse rotation San Diego is counting on to take it deep into October.

“Putting on that jersey for the first time the other day was pretty special, and just hearing all the feedback from my family and friends about how good it is to see me in a Padres uniform,” Musgrove said in a videoconference Saturday from Peoria, Arizona.

Musgrove is among the big leaguers making a homecoming of sorts this spring. Just up the California coast, there's NL Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer, who grew up near Los Angeles listening to Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully and signed a $102 million, three-year deal with the Dodgers this month.

Elsewhere, a number of players have returned to teams where they had success: James Paxton with Seattle, Chris Archer in Tampa Bay, Jake Arrieta to the Chicago Cubs, Adam Eaton to the Chicago White Sox and Jed Lowrie in Oakland.

“This is where I wanted to be," Arrieta said. "The last few days here, it just feels right.”

Musgrove was obtained in a trade with rebuilding Pittsburgh on Jan. 19, the third big trade Padres general manager A.J. Preller made after Christmas to restock the injury-depleted rotation. Preller also obtained Yu Darvish and Blake Snell in blockbuster deals that are expected to make the Padres one of the best teams in the majors this season. Darvish, Snell and Musgrove have all pitched in the World Series. Only Musgrove...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Coming-home-Padres-Musgrove-wears-No-44-to-15966703.php