TODAY : King addre sed reporters (including ) about his status, and said that he is very confident that I will pitch by the end of the year . This framing isnt exactly a relief to Padres fans since there seemingly hadnt been any concern that Kings season could be in jeopardy, yet the righty painted a reasonably positive view about the progre s that he has made to date. Ive had days where Ive been really, really frustrated with it and been really sore and felt like I didnt get much activity that day , King said. And then Ill wake up the next day and all of a sudden [its] like, Oh my God, I feel like I can pitch in a game right now. So its taking it step by step and knowing that [the nerve] can fire when it fires, but obviously its that annoying proce s. Ive got a ton of confidence that what were doing is the correct thing to do, and Ive felt Chris Silva Jersey my body progre s in great ways . JUNE 19 : The Padres have been without right-hander for nearly a month now due to a pinched nerve in his shoulder, and it doesnt sound as though hell be rejoining the team anytime soon. Asked yesterday whether King would be out through the All-Star break, manager Mike Shildt replied, I think thats pretty accurate before declining to put a specific target date on the star right-handers return. Its a brutal injury for all parties involved. King is a free agent at seasons end and appeared to have a chance at cashing in on a nine-figure contract in free agency after a dominant run dating back to his late-2023 move to the rotation when he was still with the Yankees. An absence of this length owing to a fairly uncommon shoulder i sue does him no favors in that regard. From the teams perspective, hes one of their top rotation options if not the top rotation option and theres minimal depth to replace him. [Related: ] King, 30, opened the 2025 season on a tear. In his first 10 starts, he logged a 2.59 ERA with a gaudy 28.4% strikeout rate, a sharp 7.6% walk rate and a 38.3% grounder rate. He averaged le s than a homer per nine innings pitched, held opponents to a pedestrian 88 mph average exit velocity and had to sed his first career shutout against the Rockies on April 13. Add all of that onto to Kings 2024 season and his huge finish to the 2023 campaign, and the former 12th-round pick (Marlins, 2016) boasts an electric 2.72 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate in 267 2/3 innings since his full-time move to rotation work. With King joining (2024 Tommy John surgery) and (elbow inflammation) on the injured list, the Friars have leaned on and atop their rotation. Cease has had two brutal outings including his most recent one that have skewed his ERA, but he had an 11-start run of 3.39 ERA ball with a 30.6% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate between his two meltdowns. Pivetta, who signed a after lingering in free agency for much of the winter, has proven to be a godsend. Hes cooled a bit after racing out to a 2.01 ERA through his first seven starts but still sports a tidy 3.40 mark on the season, pairing that with a 27.7% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate. The rest of San Diegos staff hasnt been nearly as impre sive. Righties and have both posted mid-3.00 ERA marks but done so with poor strikeout and walk rates (and a poor home run rate, in Vsquezs case), creating some justifiable skepticism about their ability to sustain their respective marks of 3.70 and 3.59. Twenty-five-year-old has looked strong through his first three career starts and pitched well in nine Triple-A starts, too. His track record is limited, however; he posted a 4.78 ERA in 98 Double-A frames a year ago and has never reached even 110 innings in a profe sional season. Offseason signee has been clobbered for a 6.66 ERA in his return from a big year in the Korea Baseball Organization. Knuckleballer ate up 146 2/3 innings with a 4.91 ERA last year but opened the 2025 season on the injured list due to an oblique strain. He was reinstated from the 60-day IL earlier this month and optioned to Triple-A where hes made three straight effective starts. Hes likely the next man up if the Padres need another starter. The emergence of Bergert and the manner in which Kolek has stepped up even if hes been shaky since two brilliant starts to begin his season have left the Padres in a better spot than most wouldve expected upon hearing that both King and Darvish would face protracted absences in 2025. Still, with multiple rotation arms sporting ERAs that dont appear all that sustainable, Kings nebulous injury status is all the more problematic for San Diego. This level of uncertainty seemed hard to imagine when King was first placed on the injured list. Shildt said at the time that the right-hander felt like he slept on [his shoulder] wrong at that time. Its clear now that there was something more significant at play. King is doing some occasional light throwing work, but it sounds as though hell need to build through a full throwing progre sion and a rehab stint of some note before hes back on the big league radar. For a Padres team thats patching over its rotation with a series of relative unknowns and a pitcher who was eyeing a major contract in free agency, that seemingly innocuous start to his absence has snowballed in a most unwelcome manner. Dwyane Wade Jersey