The San Diego Padres decided not to bring back Juan Soto for the 2024 campaign.
He is expected to make around $30 million in salary arbitration and the Padres prefer to cut costs whenever possible.
Soto, packaged alongside fellow outfielder Trent Grisham, brought the Padres five players: Drew Thorpe, Michael King, Randy Vazquez, and Jhony Brito are pitchers, and catcher Kyle Higashioka joined them, too.
Higashioka is quite familiar with all of them except for Thorpe, who is still a prospect in Double-A.
He praised King and said he has what it takes to be a frontline starter in San Diego.
“‘Sinker, 4-seam, slider, changeup… they’re all great pitches.’ Kyle Higashioka heads to San Diego along with battery mate Michael King to help revitalize the #Padres pitching staff,” MLB Network Radio tweeted.
“Sinker, 4-seam, slider, changeup… they’re all great pitches.”
Kyle Higashioka heads to San Diego along with battery mate Michael King to help revitalize the #Padres pitching staff. pic.twitter.com/nIJlBrySEi
— MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (@MLBNetworkRadio) December 8, 2023
King has a 3.38 career ERA, but he has fulfilled different roles throughout his career.
He has been a starter, a multi-inning reliever, a traditional one-inning bullpen arm, and more.
Down the stretch in the 2023 campaign, he had an incredible run as a starter with the Yankees.
In the year as a whole, he had a 2.23 ERA starting games, and a 3.08 mark relieving.
He showed poise, maturity, and improved stuff, so the Yankees used him as a trade piece to bring in Soto.
The Padres came into the offseason with the task of adding as much pitching as possible.
They lost NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell, Seth Lugo, Nick Martinez, and Michael Wacha to free agency.
As Higashioka stated, King has the stuff to succeed as an MLB starter.
Will he have the stamina and endurance?
We will see in due time.
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