Matt Waldron completes three innings in second rehab start for Triple-A El Paso

Matt Waldron moved a little closer to returning to the Padres’ major league rotation by completing three innings in his second rehab start with Triple-A El Paso on Friday night. The session was built around controlled progress, and Waldron turned in one-run ball over the middle stretch of the game as he works back from a muscle injury.

Waldron has been on the injured list since May 15 with a right brachialis muscle injury, a strain in the upper arm area that can affect both velocity and command when pitching. In his latest appearance, he kept the workload within a rehab framework, totaling three innings and finishing the outing with two strikeouts.

This was not Waldron’s first game in the rehab track. The Padres release described the Friday effort as his second rehab start, indicating that the team is pacing his return with multiple appearances rather than a single jump straight to a longer outing. The earlier part of the rehab process is often as much about recovery and soreness monitoring as it is about strikeout totals, and Waldron’s ability to complete three innings is a meaningful checkpoint.

The location, El Paso’s Triple-A environment, also matters in the return picture. While the step from the minors to the majors is not only about stamina, Triple-A lineups provide a more advanced level of scouting and timing than most early rehab venues. For Waldron, facing that level of opposition while limiting innings helps the Padres evaluate his pitch execution under game conditions.

Friday night’s session produced one-run ball, giving the organization a game-read indicator of how well the injury has stabilized enough to allow him to miss bats and keep runs in check. Waldron’s two strikeouts reinforce that his pitching mechanics were producing results, even as the inning count remained short and rehab-like.

For the Padres, Waldron’s rehab start affects planning more than it changes an immediate outcome. A right-hander returning from a brachialis injury typically requires confirmation that the arm can handle repeated days of throwing. The next stages after a two-start rehab window usually come with updated workload decisions, based on how his arm responds in the days following the Friday outing.

What to watch next is how Waldron’s recovery holds up after this appearance, including whether he advances to a longer rehab outing and how his command looks when he reaches higher pitch counts. The Padres’ goal is to convert rehab progress into major league readiness with minimal setbacks, and Friday’s three-inning effort was the latest evidence in that process.