1:25pm: The Padres have now officially announced that they have optioned Hart and recalled Bergert.
10:25am: Per AJ Cassavell of MLB.com, the club will indeed go with a four-man rotation for a while. Bergert is expected to be recalled as the corresponding move. He will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. Since he’s been acting as a starter in Triple-A, he will presumably fill a long relief role with the big league club.
10:10am: The Padres have optioned left-hander Kyle Hart to Triple-A El Paso, according to the club’s transactions tracker at MLB.com. No corresponding move is listed but they will presumably bring up another pitcher before tonight’s game.
The club took a flier on Hart this winter, signing him to a one-year deal with a $1.5MM guarantee. That was a bet on his performance in Korea last year. His previous track record in affiliated ball wasn’t great but he had good results with the KBO’s NC Dinos in 2024. He logged 157 innings over 26 starts with a 2.69 earned run average, 28.8% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 46% ground ball rate. It’s never a guarantee that a pitcher can transfer those kinds of results to North American ball, but the Friars had rotation needs and a tight budget, so it was an understandable bet to make.
At the start of camp, the Padres had four rotation spots spoken for by Dylan Cease, Michael King, Yu Darvish and Nick Pivetta. Hart was part of a competition for the fifth spot alongside Randy Vásquez, Matt Waldron and Stephen Kolek. In the spring, Darvish landed on the IL to start the season due to elbow inflammation, opening a second spot. The competition was also thinned out when Waldron suffered an oblique strain.
That led to Vásquez and Hart both securing rotation spots to open the season. Hart has made five starts thus far, tossing 21 innings with 14 earned runs, leading to an ERA of 6.00. His 6.7% walk rate is quite good but his 17.8% strikeout rate and 33.3% ground ball rate are both subpar marks.
Vásquez has been better at preventing runs but with less impressive stuff under the hood. He has a 3.97 ERA through his five starts but with an 8.9% strikeout rate and 16.8% walk rate. He hasn’t allowed a home run yet, despite a subpar 39.2% ground ball rate, perhaps suggesting he’s walking a tightrope. His 6.94 SIERA certainly doesn’t expect him to maintain his current run prevention.
Hart, on the other hand, has allowed six home runs already. SIERA, which expects such things to normalize over time, gives Hart a 4.57 so far this year. Regardless, these are small samples and Hart hasn’t been overpowering. The Padres have decided to send him to El Paso, at least for a few starts. Optional assignments for pitchers come with a 15-day minimum, so Hart won’t be able to come back until the club’s series against the Rockies May 9th to 11th.
It’s possible the decision was motivated by the schedule. The Padres were off yesterday and then have further off-days on Monday and Thursday next week. Perhaps they will go with a four-man rotation for a while. They will play six straight from May 2nd to 7th, which will be before Hart can come back. They could use a spot start or a bullpen game to get through that stretch and then bring Hart back up, if they so choose.
It’s also possible that the club could explore Hart as a reliever. Though his results have been uneven so far, lefties are slashing just .100/.100/.100 against him in the early going. Righties, on the other hand, have a monster .333/.386/.698 line. His changeup, a pitch usually used to neutralize hitters with the platoon advantage, has allowed a .533 batting average. Perhaps transitioning to a lefty specialist role would be a good move, though these are tiny samples and this is entirely speculative.
It’s also possible the Padres want to get a look at Kolek. He has a 6.38 ERA through five starts for El Paso but it’s possible to look beyond that and see encouraging signs elsewhere. The Chihuahuas play in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, which always requires a grain of salt. Kolek has a .358 batting average on balls in play and 62.9% strand rate, which are both to the unlucky side. His 18% strikeout rate isn’t great but he has kept walks down to a tiny 3.6% level while getting grounders on 56.6% of balls in play. Ryan Bergert is another option on the 40-man roster. He has a 5.16 ERA at El Paso but with a 23.5% strikeout rate and 9.8% walk rate.
More information on the club’s plans will likely be forthcoming soon. Time will tell if this is just a brief reset for Hart during a light portion of the club’s schedule or a more meaningful pivot. At least for the next few days, they will likely operate with a longer bullpen with two off-days in the next week.
Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images
Looks like the kbo transition isnt working out this time
I mean, he’s alright as a 6th or 7th option. Padres just have enough injuries to need such options. His price tag is correct and he may well improve.
Too early to be pushing panic buttons (if ever).
Kyle Hart will work things out
@ AAA and be back in San Diego.
Id go kolek and Matsui as piggyback for the 5th spot. Try to get 6 or 7 out of both combined
You’d need to get 5 or 6 of those innings out of Kolek since Matsui has only gone 2 innings once and hasn’t gone beyond that at all this season
Or 4 from Kolek 3 from Matsui. 3 innings is once through the order and if you start the righty in kolek matsui benefits from the opposing team going with lety hitters. So asking a lefty in matsui to go 3 inning with the advantage isn’t all that much to ask for.
Except that Matsui has only pitched 2 innings in a game once in his career. You don’t ask for a reliever like him to get 9 outs while hoping he allows zero baserunners. If you are piggybacking anyone in the Padres bullpen for innings like that it would probably be Alek Jacob
His MLB career he has, however he has been tried as a starter in NPB on multiple occasions though he was too inefficient as a starter since he walked too many batters though he did seem to keep the strikeouts
Matsui is a 0ne-inning guy
Hart is likely the best of three (Vasquez and Kolek) – Padres have to be happy with Pivetta thus far, he has been good. A Dharvish return must be a possibility, no news that it isn’t. Hart could plug in at the five and the Padres could add a starter at the trade deadline.
It’s still a precarious situation, the Padres rotation, but a good April from Pivetta has relieved the pressure a little.
Darvish won’t be back until end of May or sometime in June. Team has been saying that for a few weeks now
Hart does not have ML stuff. Vasquez is outperforming his peripherals by far, and we’ll have to see how Kolek does as a starter, but both have shown better pitches than Hart has thus far. I like Hart’s story and personality; I hope he can unlock something better in AAA.
I havent watched any tape on any of the three but as far as I see it, success in the KBO is success, and it should translate over in some small way.
Straight – now, this doesn’t have to be mean spirited but you know, AJ and Rueben get paid a lot of money to evaluate talent and well, are you qualified to determine who has “mlb stuff”?
Again, not trying to bash here but maybe let the professionals make those calls about “having the stuff”.
Has he underperformed – both good and bad so far, I’d say. Does he need to make some adjustments – maybe so.
There have been a lot worse guys run out to mound in the last 50 years.
@bwmiller79 – He does, dude is legit an inspiration of a baseball player with the overseas domination after washing out of MLB. I truly, truly wish him the best because he seems like a very humble and hard-working dude. IMO, even to make it back on the radar of an MLB team is an immense achievement.
@Longtimecoming – Hart was a buy-low option, no two ways around it. This has worked in the past to varying degrees, but the guys just had higher floors to work with (e.g., Martinez). He is totally serviceable as a depth option in AAA and even arguably a fifth starter, but it’s hard to have to run him and Vasquez every 2/5 times thru the rotation. Maybe they can coax out something better from him in AAA, whether that’s more velo, spin, better sequencing, a new pitch, etc. Happy to eat my words, believe it or not, I’m rooting for the dude’s success.
It not kbo transition, more of guys like him who don’t have overall great stuff who goes overseas than come back looking to get to majors when, they are triple a at best..
Will be interesting to see who fills out the #5 SP role in early May. Kolek v Hart….or Bergert?
Bergert now announced. I think Kolek pitched a day ago. After Wednesday game, I checked the schedule and was seeing the possibility/ hoping they would at least skip his next start due to the 2 off days. I guess making that decision would then follow that might as will fill a roster spot with a reliever AND allow Hart to go down and keep his routine / work on things.
I like it. And hope we see some positive innings from Bergert for his cup of coffee. Get Reynolds and Hoeing back next week maybe. Then Yu back in 30 days for what should be a pretty good 5. If the bats are back over the weekend / next week, things are looking good in SD.
At least Bergert isn’t someone that opposing teams will have an extensive book on. Well, probably …. It might give him an edge.
I can’t speak for other clubs but I believe SD has a history of not doing well on 1st time guys for sure. Maybe that will help Bergert.
Man, ain’t you “Debbie Downer” today? 🤣🍻
@OldSalt I think LT was agreeing with you, pointing out that when our lineup has faced opposing pitchers on their first start in MLs, we haven’t hit them very well. So maybe there’s something to what you’re saying.
We don’t disagree. I was trying to pin a “positive” dart on an ol’ gray mule, saying that maybe Bergert will have a bit of an advantage. He turned it around into a negative, i.e. about Padres past performance, ergo, the “downer” joke. However, I think we’re all in sync.
Go Padres (even the AAA ones and the injured guys rooting from the sidelines)! 😁🍻
@Longtime I know they brought up Bergert now while they’re on a 4-man rotation. He won’t like start a game. But I’m wondering how things shake out once they move into the long road trip and will need either a 5th SP or a bullpen game (involving Bergert perhaps).
I’d be surprised if Bergert plays into their rotation plans ROS, and I suspect Hart was sent down purely for staff management purposes (i.e., they’re not demoting Hart solely due to performance (he’s had some positive moments). Kolek,
Yeah, from say 5/5 – 5/31 (maybe when Yu could be ready), they have to either bring Hart back (likely) or Kolek.
Now, another option is a couple of BP games to fill that gap. Reynolds should be back in a few days (rehab on 4/22 with El Paso). Hoeing not far away.
I’d say, either a BP to plan to bring Hart back when eligible (assuming no injury replacement factors in) or Kolek gets a spot start.
This smells like SD just wanted to skip 2 starts due to schedule and they wanted to: (1) keep Hart on schedule to start every 5 days; and (2) grab an extra BP arm for a week.
That extra BP arm, with guys coming back, could be an opener to be sent down the next day for a returning Reynolds situation. Then Hart is eligible to return for next start and Bergert or Gillespie goes down.
I don’t think this is all about looking for an option to replace Hart but keep him working on schedule like you suggested as well.
FWIW Wolf is looking good in San Antonio.
Wolf’s been off my radar, good to hear positive update on him thanks!
Scheduled to start tonight. Hope I didn’t jinx him!
Kyle looked ok in his start against Detroit on Wednesday. But the preasure is on against the Tigers when you know you have to be near perfect to beat Detroit. The way Reese pitched you couldn’t give up a run if you wanted to win. It’s really hard to beat a team like Detroit with their kind of pitching.
And what about Gurriel? Why still on team?
Cause he’s a warm body and they’ve run out of warm bodies on the 40 man roster? Could be worse. At least his name isn’t “Carpenter”, or “Nelson Cruz”.
A weed by any other name. He is just as bad if not worse. There are players in AAA that are better and can at least can play a position. Also why isn’t Preller not looking to better a lousy bench. Can’t be money.
I don’t want to be “The Preller Defender”, but who says that Preller’s not looking to improve the bench? You have a published source for that? Some of the available options (Maybe Peralta or Solano) wanted a lot more than $1M or $2M a year, and those “tiny” numbers add up for a team right at the edge of the SECOND level of the luxury tax.
He will be dropped when Merrill, Cro, Heyward, Arraez and Lockridge all come back. May not be the first guy to go but won’t survive all 5.
Right now it’s Tatis, Bogearts, Machado and the starting lineup for El Paso. I think once people start coming back he will be less needed.
What’s telling is that even with the 5-9 AAA players in the lineup each day, Gurriel isn’t getting any playing time.
Just tread water, boys, tread water. The Pads can afford to take some hits and still be deep in the race. They can’t start going 2-6 or 1-12, and have the same hope for the mid-May injured return boost. Gurriel is definitely expendable, IMHO. I’d think that Oscar Gonzalez could step into his shoes immediately. I know Gurriel is an IF/DH, but the Pads have Wade and McCoy on the roster, soon to be joined and/or replaced by Merrill, Cronnie & Arraez, so the IF is covered without Gurriel.
I don’t see a role for Gurriel, honestly, and I never have. Sheets hits LHP about as well as RHP and can handle the 1B/DH behind Arraez. Gonzalez and Iglesias give them R-bat utility pieces. Wade can play any position, whereas Gurriel can’t play anywhere but 1B at this point.
They need to limp through this brief homestand at 3-2. The upcoming 9-game road trip worries me.
Padres still have a strong triple-three rotation without Davrish, with Pivetta’s performance. We (Padres fans) are just used to seeing guys like Nick Martinez, Seth Lugo, or Michael Wacha at the back end of the rotation. That’s not normal for most teams, and as far as pitching in 2025, the Padres are VERY normal. Cease still isn’t hitting on all cylinders, King is doing better, and right now Pivetta’s the obvious #1 TOR starter for the Pads. Beyond that, it’s a list of prospects and cripples.
The Padres are one starter away, either way. One more injury to their current top 3 starters, or one additional, strong starter, could make or break the season. At the moment, none of the 4-5 category starters look all that good. That situation can change pretty quickly, too, but to call Vasquez, Britto (IL), Waldron (IL), Hart (AAA), Kolek (AAA), or Bergert (AAA) “rotation depth” is pretty far fetched, at the moment.
That’s why they play the games, and we all watch ’em. (Think how boring it must be to be a Dodger’s fan. Predictability just kills interesting Baseball. The Padres? Oh yeah, are they “interesting”. 🙄😖)
As a long time SD fan, not sure how much we are “used to seeing” the likes of Martinez, Lugo and Wacha at the back end of a rotation.
I could quote you many years where one of those guys being the #2 guy would have been a blessing!
Lol, well, most folks memories are pretty near term. The rotation tread has been pretty good for the past couple of years, and fans expect more of the same. I’m with you though on the past. Could you have imagined even ONE of the studs on this team, e.g. Tatis, Machado, Merrill, and others, one of the teams between 2001 and 2015? Or even as recently as 2016-2020? Yep, we’ve had some real “AAA” level Padres teams in the past.
THIS, is better. Much better.
Winning is never boring.
– 1996-2000 Yankees teams
Hart’s Korea magic isn’t translating.
Unfortunately, I, along with 1,054 others, made the wrong choice in the poll earlier this year.
mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/poll-padres-rotation-ba…
Too soon to give up on him. He has had some quality innings even in a bad start and a couple of good / good enough starts.
His last one, well if you don’t score any runs it really doesn’t matter if your SP craps the bed.
As a 5 guy, even a good / bad alternating pattern isn’t the end of the world to get you thru the season.
Every now and then their guy will be bad too and it’s a 10-9 game and you win anyway with a strong BP.
Maybe he’ll have the mental space to work out a few issues at AAA, while not under the bright lights of the MLB, and come back stronger.
“but the Friars had rotation needs and a tight budget, so it was an understandable bet to make.”
Time to let it go, Dagwood.
some false narratives never die
Nah. You filled out your roster with leftover FA scraps. Hart was one of them. Padres did have rotation needs and a tight budget. That was obvious to everyone except the emotionally insecure Padre fan.
thanks for making my point for me.
Yeah fops, they were so full of financially strapped woe when they signed Hart, that they then, in the depth of depression, went and handed $55M to Pivetta the next day.
Any team with a rotation of Cease, Darvish, Musgrove, King, Pivetta and Vasquez isn’t likely to feel the urge to go lavish on another SP contract. Some smaller contracts for depth pieces like Hart are the norm, not a sign of a fire sale.
They were pushing money back to next year. Seriously dude. Let it go and let the writers be. It’s as bitchy a thing as I’ve ever seen.
Every high payroll team tries to be smart with managing money across years, in the name of trying to avoid higher levels of CBT tiers. A lot of $ off the books next year so pushing backloading new contracts was just CBT smart. What needs to be given rest is the narrative that the Pads are financially in trouble compared to other top 10 payroll teams. It permeates every Padres article by mlbtr writers or articles they link. Aspire some intelligence.
Darvish is done!! New flash! Remember, folks, you heard it from Reynaldo first, even before AJP and Shildt knew. That’s REAL inside info genius for ya. /end sarcasm
I hope not.😉
Kyle Hart pitched well against the 1st place Tigers.
He may just need to work on a few things @ AAA.
Hart will be back in San Diego soon.
Wouldn’t mind seeing Alcantara in the #5 rotation slot.
But, C Ethan Salas and SS Leo Devries( hit for cycle yesterday including 2 home runs on farm)
ARE BOTH UNTOUCHABLE IN TRADES.
Hey mlbtr writers, can you put the link to Bergert earlier in the article? Thanks
-future reader
better the 9th paragraph than the 10th?
Bergert seems like a solid #5 candidate, possibly more than Vasquez. Interested to see what he’s got. Hart seems like a great guy, but his stuff is really bad.
This Kyle Hart in like every movie and commercial it would seem. Why he always screaming