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Padres Place Michael King On 15-Day Injured List

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The Padres announced that right-hander Michael King has been placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to May 22) due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder.  Righty David Morgan was called up from Triple-A El Paso to take King’s spot on the active roster, and earlier today, the Padres also called up left-hander Omar Cruz while right-hander Alek Jacob was optioned to Triple-A.

King was scheduled to start Saturday’s game against the Braves, but he was scratched from the lineup after arriving at the ballpark with a sore shoulder.  The righty “just felt like he slept on it wrong,” manager Mike Shildt told the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Kevin Acee and other media members yesterday, and the discomfort persisted after some pregame testing and weighted-ball tossing.

After another day of evaluation, the decision was clearly made to put King onto the 15-day IL, perhaps just as precaution.  Shildt said yesterday that “we do believe it’s not anything overly serious” and that King perhaps may have been able to pitch Saturday, but the club saw no reason to risk a more serious injury.

The centerpiece of the trade package the Yankees sent to the Padres in the Juan Soto trade, King more than lived up to the hype in his first season in San Diego.  King had already gone from dominant reliever to dominant starter after he was moved into New York’s rotation near the end of the 2023 season, and he continued to elevate his game with a 2.95 ERA over 173 2/3 innings with the Padres last year.  That superlative effort earned King a seventh-place finish in NL Cy Young Award voting, and he has kept up the terrific work this year.

Over 10 starts and 55 2/3 innings in 2025, King has a 2.59 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate, and 7.6% walk rate.  Both of the latter figures are improvements over his already strong numbers in 2024, though his whiff rate (28.4%) has declined and King is allowing far more hard contact than he did last year.  These issues notwithstanding, King has continued to look the part of a frontline pitcher, and he has paired with Nick Pivetta to form a big one-two punch at the top of San Diego’s rotation.

Losing King even for 15 days, then, would be a setback for a Padres team that is still missing Yu Darvish to injury.  Darvish threw four innings in a Triple-A rehab start on May 14 but hasn’t pitched since, seemingly adding some fresh doubt over when exactly Darvish will be making his 2025 debut.  Shildt did say two weeks ago that Darvish’s rehab work would be going somewhat by feel rather than a strict throwing progression, as the club was relying on Darvish’s experience and knowledge of his arm to gauge his readiness.

With King and Darvish out, the Padres’ rotation now consists of Pivetta, Dylan Cease, Randy Vasquez, and Stephen Kolek.  Kyle Hart is the only other pitcher who has made any starts for the Padres this year, as he had a 6.00 ERA in five starts and 21 innings for Friars before being optioned to Triple-A in April.  Hart is the likeliest candidate to take King’s spot in the rotation, as Matt Waldron is also on a rehab assignment in his own recovery from an oblique strain.

Yesterday’s impromptu bullpen game saw the Padres use Jacob and three other pitchers, so Jacob was optioned in part to bring some fresh arms into the bullpen.  Cruz is a swingman who has started four of his eight Triple-A appearances this season, and he made his MLB debut earlier in 2025 in the form of two relief outings and 3 2/3 total innings for the Padres.  He might also factor into the rotation plans in some limited capacity with King out, as the Padres will need all hands on deck for a stretch of 26 games in 27 days that starts off on Friday.

With the Friars in need of pitching help, Morgan will get another opportunity to make his MLB debut.  The right-hander’s contract was selected to the big league roster back in late April, but Morgan was optioned to Triple-A a week later without ever getting into a game.  Morgan had never pitched even at the Triple-A level before that unexpected call-up, and after showing up in El Paso earlier this month, he has been hit hard to the tune of a 12.71 ERA over seven appearances and 5 2/3 innings.

Extreme problems with the home run ball have plagued Morgan this year, as he has allowed five homers over 14 1/3 total minor league frames at the Double-A and Triple-A levels.  For comparison, the righty had given up only seven big flies in his 108 1/3 previous minor league innings.  Morgan has displayed excellent control throughout his minor league career, and his good strikeout numbers have spiked to an eye-popping 45.45% over his 14 1/3 innings in 2025.

Division Series Roster Notes: Padres, Dodgers, Phillies, Yankees, Tigers

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We’ve already covered some notable roster additions for the Guardians and Mets as the Division Series begins, and the Royals are sticking with the same 26 players used in the Wild Card Series against the Orioles.  Now that all eight teams in the LDS rounds have revealed their rosters, here are the details…

  • The Padres made two changes from their NLDS roster, adding left-hander Martin Perez and right-hander Alek Jacob and removing Joe Musgrove and infielder Nick Ahmed.  Musgrove was obviously out due to his impending Tommy John surgery, while replacing Ahmed with a pitcher gives San Diego 13 pitchers to go with 13 position players.  Perez is one of five southpaws on San Diego’s roster, as ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez (X link) was among those who noted that the Padres are guarding themselves as best they can against Shohei Ohtani and other powerful left-handed Dodgers bats.
  • The Dodgers will go with an even mix of 13 batters and 13 pitchers, and rookie Edgardo Henriquez has made the list of available arms.  Henriquez only made his MLB debut on September 24 and he has played in just three games as a big leaguer, but Los Angeles will give the hard-throwing righty a look in October to add some velocity to the bullpen.  It’s probably safe to assume that Henriquez wouldn’t have made the cut if the Dodgers weren’t ravaged by pitching injuries, yet the rookie also got the nod over veteran Joe Kelly, who had an inconsistent year but was pitching well after returning from the IL in mid-September.  On the position player side, L.A. didn’t include either Kevin Kiermaier or James Outman, so Andy Pages will be the only true backup outfielder along with utilitymen Enrique Hernandez and Chris Taylor in the bench mix.
  • The Phillies will use 14 position players and 12 pitchers in their NLDS matchup with the Mets, with left-hander Kolby Allard joining the relief corps.  Allard has worked as something of a swingman throughout his career, and this ability of covering multiple innings earned Allard the spot, as manager Rob Thomson told MLB.com’s Paul Casella and other reporters.  “He’s going to probably give us the most length if we get into an extra-inning game….so I just wanted as much length as we could get,” Thomson said.  Utilityman Weston Wilson also got the Phils’ last bench spot, as Casella observes that Wilson brings more positional versatility than outfielder Cal Stevenson.
  • The Yankees went heavier on position players (15) than pitchers (11) for their ALDS roster against the Royals.  Anthony Rizzo is missing the series due to two broken fingers and DJ LeMahieu wasn’t yet activated from the injured list, but New York still has plenty of room on its bench, including pinch-running specialist Duke Ellis.  The Yankees appear to be loading up on bats to take on the Royals’ tough rotation and more porous bullpen, which left right-hander Marcus Stroman off the ALDS roster as the odd man out of the starting staff.
  • The Tigers made just one change from their Wild Card Series roster, as rookie righty Keider Montero has been included in place of Casey Mize.  Montero posted a 4.76 ERA over 98 1/3 innings in his first Major League season, starting 16 of 19 games.  This doesn’t necessarily mean Montero will start against the Guardians in the ALDS, however, as Detroit’s pitching staff (apart from ace Tarik Skubal) is very malleable in terms of specific roles.

Padres Designate Domingo Tapia For Assignment

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The Padres announced several roster moves this afternoon ahead of tonight’s game against the Tigers. The club placed right-hander Alek Jacob on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to July 21) with right elbow inflammation. To replace Jacob on the active roster, the club selected the contract of left-hander Jackson Wolf, as previously expected. Right-hander Domingo Tapia was designated for assignment to make room for Wolf on the club’s 40-man roster.

Jacob made his big league debut just last week, and his move to the shelf puts a promising start to his major league career on hold. In three big league appearances, the 25 year old has racked up five strikeouts against just one walk in three scoreless innings of work. Jacob’s early success in the big league’s comes on the heels of a dominant performance at the Double-A level prior to his call-up to the majors where he posted a 1.32 ERA in 27 1/3 innings with a 29.4% strikeout rate.

Taking Jacob’s place on the active roster is Wolf, a 24-year-old lefty for whom his first appearance with the Padres will be his major league debut. That opportunity seems likely to come tonight, with Wolf poised to take the ball to start tonight’s game in Detroit. To this point in the 2023 campaign, Wolf has pitched out of the rotation for San Diego’s Double-A affiliate in San Antonio. In 85 innings of work across 17 starts, Wolf has posted a solid 3.39 ERA with a 31.3% strikeout rate.

Wolf’s selection likely brings to an end Tapia’s time with the Padres, for whom he posted a solid 3.57 ERA in 17 2/3 innings of work (albeit with a less impressive 5.38 FIP). In addition to San Diego, Tapia has also played in Oakland, Kansas City, and Seattle since making his major league debut for the Red Sox back in 2020. Overall, Tapia sports a 4.21 ERA and 4.40 FIP in 72 2/3 innings of work at the big league level. Going forward, the Padres will have seven days to waive, trade, or release the 31-year-old journeyman. Should the club pass him through waivers and attempt to assign him outright to the minors, Tapia will have the opportunity to reject that assignment and test free agency as a player who has been previously outrighted in his career.

Padres Select Alek Jacob

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The Padres announced they’ve selected reliever Alek Jacob onto the big league roster. San Diego optioned José Castillo to Triple-A in a corresponding move. They already had an opening on the 40-man roster after designating Nelson Cruz for assignment a few days ago.

San Diego selected Jacob in the 16th round of the 2021 draft. A $75K senior sign out of Gonzaga, Jacob moved quickly up the ladder thanks to strong minor league performances. He traversed three levels last season. He struggled at year’s end in Triple-A but was dominant in High-A and Double-A.

Over the winter, Baseball America named the 6’3″ righty the #23 prospect in a relatively shallow San Diego farm system. The outlet praised a plus changeup and excellent control but noted well below-average fastball velocity that sits in the mid-upper 80s.

Despite lacking overpowering stuff, Jacob has thrived with Double-A San Antonio this year. Over 27 1/3 innings, he carries a 1.32 ERA. He’s striking out just under 30% of opponents and has induced grounders at a huge 56.1% clip. Already 25, Jacob is older than the standard Double-A prospect. Still, there’s little arguing with that kind of production, and he’s earned his first MLB look as a long relief option for skipper Bob Melvin.

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