Joseph Anthony Musgrove (born December 4, 1992 in El Cajon, CA) is a professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played within the Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, and Pittsburgh Pirates organizations.

His father Mark, a lifelong baseball fan, originally supported the San Francisco Giants but became a San Diego Padres fan after the team was created in 1969. He was frequently busy, working as a police officer and private investigator in San Diego, California so his mother Diane would play catch with a young Musgrove in their front yard.

Joe's Italian Heritage was confirmed by the Italian American Baseball Foundation in their article "JOE MUSGROVE CHANNELS ITALIAN AMERICAN HERITAGE DURING PADRES FIRST NO-HITTER"

Joe began participating in baseball tournaments at the age of seven, where he was often physically larger than his teammates. Additionally, he took pitching lessons with distant relative Dominick Johnson, the son of Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher Deron Johnson. Johnson taught Musgrove a series of intense workouts designed in the 1970s by former Philadelphia Phillies trainer Gus Hoefling.

He broke out as a star pitcher and batter during his junior season at Grossmont High School, which he helped take to two state championship appearances. After being selected by the Blue Jays in the first round of the 2011 MLB Draft, Musgrove chose to forgo his previous commitment to play college baseball for San Diego State, instead signing with the team.

Partway through the 2012 season, Musgrove was traded to the Astros as part of a massive ten-player swap. There, his minor league career faltered due to a series of injuries, and he did not advance past the Rookie League until 2014. He began to rise through the Astros' farm system in 2015, and made his major league debut the following year.

In 2017, Joe was part of the World Series-winning* Astros team. That offseason, he was part of another massive trade between the Astros and the Pirates. He spent two years there before being traded to his hometown Padres.

Pitching against the St. Louis Cardinals on August 30, 2018, Musgrove began the game by throwing 21 consecutive strikes, the most by a major league pitcher to start a game since 1988. This included eight swinging strikes, six called strikes, two foul balls and five balls in play where the batter was put out by the Pirates fielders.

On April 9, 2021, Joe pitched the first no-hitter in the Padres' 52-year franchise history. He posted an 11–9 record with a 3.18 ERA and 203 strikeouts in 181+1⁄3 innings in 2021, and led the Padres' starting rotation in wins, ERA and strikeouts.

Joe was named to the 2022 NL All-Star team, and on August 1, 2022, the Padres announced they signed him to a five-year contract extension, worth $100 million.

(excerpted from Baseball Almanac, BR Bullpen & Wikipedia)