Pitchers and catchers will report to the Padres’ spring training complex on Wednesday ahead of the first full-team workout on Feb. 15.
To get you prepped for spring training, we’re taking a deep dive into each corner of the organization’s roster.
Next, the Padres’ starting pitchers:
2025 recap
A strength during the Padres’ 93-win season in 2024, the rotation entered the year with a couple of arms tied behind their back. Joe Musgrove underwent Tommy John surgery before the season started and Yu Darvish’s elbow was barking in spring training. Darvish slow-played his return until mid-July, was clearly still compromised when he did return to the mound and threw just one-plus inning in the Padres’ Game 3 NL Wild Card Series loss.
The Padres turned to Darvish (5.38 ERA) in that win-or-go-home game because Michael King (3.44 ERA) missed roughly half the season with a nerve issue and later knee inflammation. He had been the Padres’ best starter a year earlier, but he was inconsistent when he got back on the mound in September and was relegated to relief duty behind Darvish in that elimination game against the Cubs.
The Padres’ lone win in the playoffs was started by Dylan Cease (4.55 ERA), but he went just 3⅔ shutout innings because the team had greater trust in baseball’s best bullpen than the Jekyll-and-Hyde campaign that Cease turned in for a walk year.
The last addition to the team in spring training, Nick Pivetta, turned out to be the rotation’s saving grace as he set career bests in wins (13), ERA (2.87), strikeouts (190) and innings (181⅔) and pitched well enough to win Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series.
Beyond the big names in the rotation, Randy Vásquez (3.84 ERA) took a step forward while finishing third on the team with 133⅔ innings and youngsters Stephen Kolek (4.18 ERA) and Ryan Bergert (2.78 ERA) impressed before they were traded away for catcher Freddy Fermin.
Michael King smiles during a news conference after the Padres re-signed him to a three-year, $75-million contract at Petco Park on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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A free agent, Case signed with the Blue Jays for $210 million over seven years.
King’s injury-riddled season led him to return to San Diego on a three-year, $75 million deal that includes two opt-outs.
In other words, King gets a chance prove that his 2024 breakthrough was no fluke in a place he’s comfortable. He’ll fold into the top of the rotation alongside Pivetta and Musgrove, who is expected to be a full-go in his return from Tommy John surgery, although he hasn’t thrown more than 100 innings since 2022. Look for Pivetta to lead the charge as he’s skipping representing Canada in the World Baseball Classic to focus on preparations for an encore and perhaps another crack at free agency, as he’s a good bet to opt out if he replicates his 2025 season.
Elbow surgery will sideline Darvish for the entire year, but Vásquez’s 2025 campaign seemingly gives him a leg up in the competition for the fifth spot in the rotation. Left-handers JP Sears and Kyle Hart and knuckleballer Matt Waldron could also factor in that battle, as could non-roster invitees Marco Gonzales and Triston McKenzie and right-hander Miguel Mendez, who was added to the 40-man roster this spring to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
Padres left-hander Kash Mayfield made his professional debut on April 8, 2025, at low Single-A Lake Elsinore. (Artur Ivanov/Lake Elsinore Storm)
On the farm
The Padres traded starters Kolek and Bergert last summer. The deals involving prospects Robby Snelling, Adam Mazur, Dylan Lesko, Jarlin Susana and Robert Gasser have siphoned off much of the starting pitching talent that would have filled rotations in the upper levels.
The 23-year-old Mendez is the closest to the majors after a breakout campaign (3.22 ERA, 95 IP) forced him onto the 40-man roster. He’ll likely return to Double-A San Antonio to start the year, while left-hander Jagger Haynes will be in camp on as non-roster invitee after holding Texas League hitters to a .223 average over 103 innings (4.11 ERA). Right-hander Victor Lizarraga, 22, will be plenty young for a first full season at Triple-A El Paso, right-hander Carson Montgomery turned heads in the Arizona Fall League after returning from Tommy John surgery and right-handers Isaiah Lowe, 22, and Kannon Kemp, 21, will be looking to rebound after struggling at their Single-A stops.
The team’s biggest upside plays are in the lower minors. Left-hander Kash Mayfield, the team’s first-rounder in 2024, should head to high Single-A Fort Wayne after striking out 88 over 60⅔ innings (2.97 ERA) in the California League in his pro debut and left-hander Kruz Schoolcraft, last year’s first-rounder, should settle in at low Single-A Lake Elsinore.
Right-hander Humberto Cruz, 19, will likely miss most of 2026 after undergoing an internal brace procedure on his UCL in late August, while right-handers Michael Salina and Lan-Hong Su will begin their careers this year.