Proper-hander Yu Darvish will start the season on the injured record. Supervisor Mike Shildt knowledgeable reporters, together with Dennis Lin of The Athletic and AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. The righty was diagnosed with elbow inflammation earlier this week. “We really feel fairly comfy that some relaxation and getting ramped again up would be the reply,” Shildt says. That doesn’t level to an extended absence however it would depart two rotation spots for the trio of Kyle Hart, Stephen Kolek and Randy Vásquez.
Darvish has been coping with occasional bouts of elbow irritation for some time now. He completed the 2023 season on the IL attributable to irritation in that proper elbow. In 2024, he missed time attributable to varied points. He had some neck tightness, a groin pressure, an undisclosed household difficulty and a few extra elbow irritation. He was restricted to 81 2/3 innings final 12 months.
Though Shildt downplayed the severity, it’s a considerably regarding scenario. Any harm to a pitcher’s throwing elbow is considerably alarming. Within the case of Darvish, the elbow issues have gotten considerably frequent and he’s going to show 39 years previous in August.
The San Diego rotation has been an ongoing level of focus. Joe Musgrove required Tommy John surgical procedure in October, blowing a giant gap within the 2025 workers. That left them with a entrance three of Darvish, Dylan Stop and Michael King. They signed Nick Pivetta within the offseason to take a fourth spot.
That left guys like Matt Waldron, Hart, Kolek and Vásquez as contenders for the ultimate rotation spot. However Waldron is on the shelf attributable to an indirect pressure and now Darvish is out. That seems to depart two rotation spots for the Hart/Kolek/Vásquez trio.
Hart has virtually no main league expertise however dominated in Korea final 12 months. He tossed 157 innings within the KBO with a 2.69 earned run common, 28.8% strikeout fee, 6% stroll fee and 46% floor ball fee. That led to a take care of the Padres however he was slowed in camp by the flu. He solely made his spring debut on Sunday, tossing three innings.
Kolek simply made his large league debut final 12 months, as a Rule 5 pick of the Mariners group. He caught within the San Diego bullpen all 12 months and posted a 5.21 ERA, although with higher peripherals. His .359 batting common on balls in play and 64.3% strand fee had been each on the unfortunate facet, so he had a 3.57 FIP and and three.41 SIERA. He has been getting stretched out in camp and has a 2.19 ERA in 12 1/3 innings.
Vásquez had a 4.87 ERA over 20 begins for the Friars final 12 months. He has solely thrown 4 innings of official Cactus League motion, having allowed two earned runs with three strikeouts and one stroll. His final official outing was March 2 however he has been throwing on backfields and in sim video games.
