Padres Tyson Ross Looking to Return in September

The Padres Opening Day starter Tyson Ross will start a rehab assignment this Thursday. He hopes to return in September. Should the Padres even worry about an appearance in 2016?

Clearly, the Padres will not go anywhere in 2016. While it is tough to say that Ross has been “rushed” back since going on the DL Opening Day, I wonder why the Padres wouldn’t just clear the deck completely and wait until 2017 to put Ross back into Major League games?

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Not thinking long term, the Padres could certainly use him. While they have been using a six man rotation technically, several of the six are questionable calling them major league ready starters. Not to mention that both Luis Perdomo and Christian Friedrich are nearing innings limits for the season.

Ross is excited about the opportunity to come back in 2016 as he starts his rehab game Thursday in Single A Lake Elsinore: “I’m just excited to get back out there under the lights, in between the white lines, just be back in a ballgame. It’s been a long time, so there’s going to be some rust I’ve got to knock off.”

After a break-out 2014 season, Ross regressed some in 2015 with 3.26 ERA but was still named the Opening Day starter ahead of James Shields. At the time that was considered somewhat of a surprise. Now of course all 4 other original Opening Day members of the rotation are gone except for Colin Rea who suffered a season ending injury and for a day or two was traded to the Marlins.

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Ross seems undaunted and hoping to return stronger than ever in 2017. Considering he made over $9M this season and he will be a free agent after the 2017 season, it is an important year for Ross not only for the Padres but also personally.

Best case scenario is that the rehab work goes well for Tyson Ross and he is able to make a few starts in the Major Leagues to get the jitters out, feel confident about his pitches and have a full injury-free off-season to prepare for 2017.