Former Yankees Pitcher Very Confident He'll Return This Season

What a difference a year makes, especially for the former New York Yankees pitcher.

Last June, Michael King was enjoying a breakout season with the San Diego Padres, establishing himself as a middle-of-the-rotation starter with high upside.

Fast forward 12 months and King is just hoping to get back on the mound before the 2025 season ends.

King, who the New York Yankees sent to the Padres in December 2023 as part of the blockbuster deal for All-Star slugger Juan Soto, is rehabbing his way back after being diagnosed with a thoracic nerve problem in his right shoulder which landed him on the injured list last month.

The Padres are saying King will be out at least through the All-Star break. But the right-hander believes his season isn't over, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune's Jeff Sanders.

“I’ve had days where I’ve been really, really frustrated with it and been really sore and felt like I didn’t get much activity that day," King said, per Sanders. “And then I’ll wake up the next day and all of a sudden (it’s) like, ‘Oh my God, I feel like I can pitch in a game right now.’ So it’s taking it step by step and knowing that it can fire when it fires, but obviously it’s that annoying process.

“I’ve got a ton of confidence that what we’re doing is the correct thing to do, and I’ve felt my body progress in great ways," King continued. "So I’m very confident that I will pitch by the end of the year.”

Before going down, King was 4-2 with a 2.59 ERA in 10 starts this season. Last year, 6' 3" hurler won a career-best 13 games while posting a 2.95 ERA in 31 appearances (30 starts). That propelled King to a seventh-place finish in voting last year for the National League Cy Young Award.

The 30-year-old knows it's just a matter of time before he's back on the mound.  "I’m doing everything I possibly can to get it going," King said, per Sanders. "And I know that everybody tells me that it will come back quickly, and I’m just in that lull right now where I’m just trying to keep the body going and be ready to go as soon as I can.”

King made his big-league debut in 2019 with the Yankees. In 59 career appearances over seven MLB seasons, he has an impressive 3.13 ERA with 547 strikeouts in 477 innings pitched.

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