The Underdog Story Of The Spring! Padres $1.5 Million Man in the Mix for Fifth Starter
San Diego Padres left-hander Kyle Hart threw two scoreless innings and punched two strikeouts during Friday’s road game against the Milwaukee Brewers. He was originally scheduled to throw three innings, but the matchup concluded early due to the weather.
Nevertheless, Hart has continued to make a strong case for the Padres to select him as the No. 5 starter in the rotation.
“I liked what I saw. I liked his poise,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said following the cancellation of the game. “I thought everything looked free and easy. He was throwing it where he wanted it to go, had guys off balance.”
Hart joined the team this spring, and is just a hair behind other pitchers in camp. He is coming off a standout season with the NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization. In 2024, Hart went 13-3 with a 2.69 ERA across 26 starts, with 182 strikeouts over 157 innings.
Hart won the Choi Dong-won Award, which is the KBO’s equivalent of the Cy Young. There are rumblings that the southpaw is one of three pitchers that are the favorite to earn the final spot in the rotation.
“I just want to go see him pitch,” Shildt said before Friday’s game, via MLB.com’s Cole Bradley. “It’s unfair for me to have too high of expectations with guys that I’ve never really seen before, but clearly, he’s legitimately in the mix to be the fifth starter.”
Jhony Brito, Stephen Kolek, Matt Waldron, and Randy Vásquez are also candidates to be the Padres’ No. 5 starter. Hart, along with Waldron and Vásquez, are the three favorites to earn the final starting spot in the rotation.
With Brito and Kolek both healthy again, the two pitchers will also get a chance at emerging as the No. 5 starter.
