Michael

King

A Boston College product, King was one of the Red Sox’s rumored targets this winter before re-signing with the Padres as a free agent. He was at two runs through five today before giving up a Willson Contreras homer and a single in the sixth. He rebounded to strike out Caleb Durbin but then was pulled for Wandy Peralta with lefty Marcelo Mayer up. That switch didn’t work out for the Padres, as Mayer homered to add the fourth run the King’s total. King will face the Pirates next week.

King racked up six strikeouts on the evening while also issuing four free passes. He allowed just one hit in the contest — a leadoff single to Zach McKinstry in the fourth inning — and he was erased on a double play. King started the sixth inning by issuing a walk to Gleyber Torres before turning the ball over to the bullpen and he ultimately scored after an error extended the inning. He generated 14 swings and misses on 82 pitches on the night, registering a strong CSW of 33 percent. He’ll try once again to get in the win column when he takes on the Red Sox in Boston on Friday.

The 30-year-old right-hander also issued a pair of walks in the contest while striking out three. The White Sox got to him for three runs in the first inning then tacked on another three in the fourth. LaMonte Wade Jr. inflicted a large chunk of the damage against him with a pair of home runs and three RBI. King got five whiffs on 91 pitches on the night, registering an uninspiring CSW of 23 percent. He finishes the spring with a troublesome 10.19 ERA and 1.87 WHIP despite his 17/7 K/BB ratio over 17 innings in his five starts. Fantasy managers may want to see him right the ship before inserting him into lineups to start the season.

The homers were hit consecutively by Henry Bolte, Breyson Guedez and Nick Kurtz with two outs. King was pulled after allowing his sixth hit of the inning, but he came back out in the fifth, allowing a double and recording a strikeout before being lifted again. King has given up 14 runs and six homers in 12 2/3 innings for the spring, but it doesn’t seem like a big reason for concern. His velocity is fine, and he got 13 whiffs on 45 swings today.

He gave up three hits, walked two and struck out two. King has an 8.31 ERA after three spring starts, but his velocity isn’t far off. The homer he gave up today was hit just 337 feet off the bat of Rhys Hoskins.

King struck out three and only handed out a pair of free passes. He gave up five hits, including a colossal homer to A’s slugger Tyler Soderstrom in the opening frame. The encouraging news here is that he averaged 92.6 mph and topped out at 95.5 mph on a first-inning heater to Nick Kurtz. He induced seven swinging strikes and finished with a respectable 25 percent CSW. The 30-year-old former fantasy ace projects as a logical bounce-back candidate after a lost season due to injury last year.

Missing time with shoulder and knee injuries last season cost King on the free agent market, but he did get $25 million per season for three years to stay with the Padres. He was strong today in his spring debut, averaging 94.9 mph with his fastball. That’s 1.2 mph better than his 2025 average.

The deal, which was agreed upon on Thursday, is now official. The backloaded deal includes opt-outs for the 30-year-old hurler after each of the first two seasons. As long as he remains healthy, King should have a good shot at finishing as a top 30 starting pitcher for fantasy purposes in 2026.

The Yankees had been mentioned as a possible landing spot for King after the 30-year-old hurler spent his first five big league seasons with the club from 2019-2023. Heyman notes that while the Yankees are in the market for starting pitching, they simply had other targets. It’ll be interesting to see if they get more aggressive now that there is one fewer upper echelon option for pitching-starved clubs to chase after on the free agent market.

The deal is backloaded, so King will make $22 million if he opts out after 2026 or $45 million if he opts out after 2027. It’s a little odd he allowed it to be structured that way, given that he didn’t seem to have a shortage of suitors, but it suggests San Diego is where he wanted to be all along. The Yankees, Red Sox, Mets and Orioles were also thought to be interested in him. The 30-year-old right-hander finished seventh in NL Cy Young Award balloting back in 2024 but was limited to 15 starts this past season due to shoulder and knee issues, recording a strong 3.44 ERA — 4.42 FIP — and 76/26 K/BB ratio across 73 1/3 innings. He’s a top-30 range fantasy starter heading into drafts next spring.