Garrett Richards will achieve his goal.

The right-hander said he would pitch in September. On Monday, slightly less than 14 months after Tommy John surgery, he will start for the Padres against the Brewers.

“It seems not real,” Richards said after throwing a bullpen session Saturday at Coors Field. “Now that it’s finally here, it doesn’t feel like it’s here.”

The 31-year-old right-hander signed a two-year, $15.5 million contract with the Padres in December. The team’s hope was to place him near the top of its rotation in 2020, and they were not necessarily expecting him to pitch before then.


Richards set his sights on the end of this season, primarily to experience the adrenaline and challenge of pitching in a major league game in advance of his expectation of being virtually full-go next season.

“It will be nice to have the butterflies again, to feel the pregame jitters,” he said. “I’m excited to get back out there and compete. It’s been a long time.”

Richards, who spent his first eight big-league seasons with the Angels, had a 3.15 ERA the past five seasons. That was third lowest in the American League among pitcher with at least 500 innings.

But arm issues, including a UCL tear for which he received stem cell treatment in 2016, limited him to 138 2/3 innings from 2016-18. He went 15-12 with a 3.65 ERA over 207 1/3 innings in 2015.


“It means a ton for us,” manager Andy Green said when asked the significance of Richards possibly returning to that level of performance. “He’s a guy who has done it. ... He’s had a ton of success.”

While the Padres are expected to work the trade market for a top-flight starting pitcher for 2020, the first three days of next week will look a lot like the top of the rotation they would currently field.

Chris Paddack will start Tuesday with Dinelson Lamet and Joey Lucchesi starting the final two games against the Brewers. Rookie Ronald Bolanos, who has made two starts, will pitch out of the bullpen in Milwaukee.

Richards will be limited to 60-65 pitches in each of what will likely be three starts this season. This is essentially a head start on ‘20.


“Getting him healthy on the mound, competing at the big-league level is going to set him up for success next year,” Green said. “… We look at it like get him on the mound, make sure he knows going into the offseason he’s ready to go and he doesn’t have a question in the back of his mind — that he’s stared down a few major league lineups and he’s been back on the big stage and he’s ready to go.

“I don’t think we’re going to read too much into what the box score says. We’re confident in who he’s been in his career, that if he puts up a triple-zero ERA or a seven ERA we’re not going to be flustered by that.”