Padres roster review: Nick Pivetta – San Diego Union-Tribune
NICK PIVETTA
Position(s): Right-handed starting pitcher
Bats / Throws: Right / Right
2026 opening day age: 33
Height / Weight: 6-foot-5 / 210 pounds
How acquired: Signed as a free agent in February 2025
Contract status: Will make $19 million in the second year of a four-year, $55 million deal; he will make $14 million in 2027 and $18 million in 2028, although he can opt out after 2026 or 2027.
fWAR in 2025: 3.7
Key 2025 stats: 13-5, 2.87 ERA, 190 strikeouts, 50 walks, 0.99 WHIP, .195 opponent average, 181⅔ innings (31 starts)
STAT TO NOTE
2.36 — Pivetta’s ERA in 17 starts at Petco Park in 2025, the lowest home ERA of his career and more than two runs better than his career ERA at home (4.49). Pivetta’s previous home parks favored hitters — Fenway Park was the second-best hitting environment over the last three years and Citizens Bank Park was the eighth best — so moving into a pitching-friendly park like Petco Park (25th out of 28 in Statcast’s Park Factor over the last three years) figured to help Pivetta keep the ball in the park more. And he did. His home run rate (1.1 per nine innings) was the best of his career, the walk rate (2.2 per nine innings) was the second best of his career and that helped Pivetta thrive as he allowed a .503 OPS against hitters at Petco Park, the lowest OPS by hitters at home of his career.
TRENDING
Up — A member of the Canadian Junior National Team as an amateur, Pivetta was drafted by the Nationals, traded as a minor leaguer to the Phillies and had a 5.50 ERA in four years when he was traded in August 2020 to Boston for Heath Hembree and Brandon Workman. Pivetta was better in five years in Boston (4.29 ERA), but he had never finished a year with an ERA under 4.00, had home run tendencies and had never topped 180 innings in a season. The Red Sox still extended Pivetta a qualifying offer, but he rejected it in hopes of finding some long-term stability and he found it with the Padres just as spring training was getting underway. The signing proved to be a boon for a rotation that lost Joe Musgrove to Tommy John surgery as Pivetta made a favorable home park work to his advantage (see stat to note) during easily the best year of his career. He had a 1.78 ERA through the first month of the season, slowed a bit in May (4.00 ERA) and June (4.71) and then posted a 1.17 ERA in July to generate some All-Star buzz. Pivetta was not selected to the team, but he finished sixth in NL Cy Young voting after posting career bests in wins (13), ERA (2.87), WHIP (0.99) and hit rate (6.4 per nine innings). He was an easy choice to start the Padres’ NL Wild Card Series opener and he did his part in a tough-luck loss, striking out nine over five innings in which he allowed just two solo homers.
2026 OUTLOOK
As far as pitch run value goes, Pivetta’s plus-35 pitch run value as measured by Statcast was better than everyone in the majors outside Tarik Skubal (51), Paul Skenes (42), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (42) and Cristopher Sanchez (37) — all of whom finished higher than him in Cy Young voting. Recognizing there are better pitchers than him in the game, Pivetta said over the weekend at FanFest that he’s looking to take another step forward. Toward that end, he is skipping representing Canada in the World Baseball Classic this spring to focus on building off last year’s success and helping the Padres win a World Series. That said, Pivetta can also opt out of his contract after this season and is a good bet to do so if his 2026 season is a suitable encore to 2025.
Nick Pivetta #27 of the San Diego Padres smiles at fans before their game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Petco Park on Friday, Sept. 26, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
ROSTER RANKINGS
4. RHP Nick Pivetta
5. RHP Michael King
6. RHP Mason Miller
7. OF Ramón Laureano
8. SS Xander Bogaerts
9. LHP Adrián Morejón
10. RHP Jeremiah Estrada
11. RHP Jason Adam
12. 2B Jake Cronenworth
13. RHP Joe Musgrove
14. RHP Randy Vasquez
15. OF Gavin Sheets
16. LHP JP Sears
17. RHP Yu Darvish
18. RHP Bradgley Rodriguez
19. RHP David Morgan
20. C Freddy Fermin
21. LHP Wandy Peralta
22. C Luis Campusano
23. LHP Yuki Matsui
24. INF Sung-Mun Song
25. RHP Matt Waldron
26. OF Bryce Johnson
27. RHP Ron Marinaccio
28. RHP Bryan Hoeing
29. LHP Kyle Hart
30. RHP Jhony Brito
31. INF Will Wagner
32. OF Tirso Ornelas
33. RHP Garrett Hawkins
34. RHP Miguel Mendez
35. RHP Daison Acosta
36. RHP Ty Adcock
37. RHP Alek Jacob
38. INF Mason McCoy
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