'Absolute dog' Cosgrove giving Padres 'pen a lift

WASHINGTON -- The rough news on Drew Pomeranz continued this week. On Tuesday, the veteran left-hander underwent what Padres manager Bob Melvin termed a "cleanup" operation on his left elbow. Pomeranz still hasn't pitched since his 2021 flexor tendon surgery, and although the team remains hopeful he'll pitch meaningful innings this season, it's fair to wonder, after all the recent setbacks, whether that is still realistic.

So it’s a good thing the Padres are getting what they're getting from Tom Cosgrove.

Since his callup earlier this month, Cosgrove has been nothing short of exceptional. In the Padres' 5-3 loss to the Nationals on Wednesday night at Nationals Park, the 26-year-old left-hander pitched 1 1/3 scoreless frames, the ninth consecutive scoreless outing to start his career. That’s only three shy of the franchise record (shared by Ernesto Frieri and Jeremy Fikac) and the longest such streak since Phil Maton began his career with 10 straight scoreless appearances in 2017.

“It’s something special,” said Brett Sullivan, who caught Cosgrove at Triple-A El Paso. “He’s on a heater right now.”

Across nine innings this season, Cosgrove has allowed just four hits and a walk while striking out eight. His sinker/slider combo has induced plenty of weak contact. Perhaps most importantly, however, is what Cosgrove does to the rest of the Padres’ bullpen.

Without Pomeranz for the foreseeable future -- and with Adrian Morejon working his way back from left elbow trouble -- a sizeable workload had fallen on Tim Hill, the bullpen’s only left-hander in front of closer Josh Hader.

“The burden he’s taken off Tim -- it felt like Tim was going to pitch in 90 games this year,” said Melvin. “It certainly gives us another left-handed option, obviously with the other left-hander being Hader, who closes.”

A 12th-round pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, Cosgrove has been excellent at every level of the Minors. But success there is one thing. Success in the big leagues is another.

“It’s nice,” Cosgrove said recently, “that I don’t have to worry about anything but getting people out.”

Simple enough. But isn’t that true everywhere?

“I think in the Minor Leagues, sometimes you get wrapped up in: ‘Am I doing the right things that people want to see to call me up?’” he said. “It was something I struggled with. If I was pitching good, it was always, ‘Do I need to do something else? Do I need to do something more?’ Here, I know if I’m getting people out, that’s all I need to do.”

Well, he’s getting people out. Cosgrove’s slider, in particular, has been a weapon. It averages more than 2,600 RPMs, according to Statcast, which already qualifies as elite. On top of that, the slider has gotten +5.1 inches of horizontal movement vs. average, ranking 26th out of 258 pitchers who have thrown at least 50 sliders.

“The guy goes right at you,” Sullivan said. “He’s an absolute dog out there. From when I got traded over here [April 6, 2022], this is what I’ve seen the whole time. His slider is elite, and he just pounds the zone.”

Cosgrove is hesitant to read too much into his early success. He’s pitched long enough to know the volatile life of a reliever. “You’ll get humbled real quick,” he said.

But he also isn’t viewing his promotion and early success as validation; he’s believed in himself the whole time. He knew his stuff would play. He just needed the opportunity, and with a slew of injuries in the Padres bullpen, that opportunity arose.

“Getting to the big leagues, obviously it’s so tough to do,” Cosgrove said. “You’ve got to be good. But there’s also a luck aspect to it. There needs to be a need at your position, and there needs to be a need for what you do well.”

Clearly, there’s a need for Cosgrove in the San Diego ‘pen. And the timing couldn’t be any better. After Wednesday’s performance, Cosgrove has likely ensured himself a trip to New York this weekend with the big league club -- a trip home.

Cosgrove grew up in Staten Island and attended Manhattan College (which, despite its name, is located in The Bronx). He expects dozens of family and friends in attendance for this weekend’s three-game series against the Yankees. His high school baseball coach recently reached out and noted that he was bringing a party of 55 -- fifty-five! -- to see Cosgrove at Yankee Stadium.

“For sure, it’s going to be special,” Cosgrove said. “There’s going to be a lot of people there.”