Michael King's Injury Revealed

The San Diego Padres had to scratch Michael King from his scheduled start last week after he reportedly slept on his shoulder wrong.

After shoulder inflammation was the reason for King's shelving on the injured list, a Padres insider recently revealed what the updated diagnosis is for the right-hander.

The San Diego Union-Tribune's Jeff Sanders reported that there is nothing structurally wrong with King, but he is dealing with a pinched nerve in his shoulder. Now the 30-year-old's return is more open-ended, and will depend on how long it takes for the nerve to heal.

King was in the middle of an effective season with a 2.59 ERA, and 64 strikeouts to just 17 walks. His ERA+ of 156 measured that he was 56 percent better than the league average for qualified pitchers this season.

Manager Mike Shildt seemed confident when discussing his star pitcher.

“Now that we’ve been able to locate what the issue is … just trying to get a handle on how to release that nerve a little bit that’s preventing that (scapula) from being able to fire appropriately,” Shildt said. “We’ve got some really smart people, including Michael himself, involved with that process that will get that going as soon as possible, and how soon that is is to the discretion of that nerve.”

King will be eligible to return from the injured list on June 6, but it will all depend on how his arm is feeling as he goes about his recovery process.

Shildt made it clear that the Padres will be patient with their productive starting pitcher, but will monitor even the smallest improvements to his pinched nerve.

“Common sense says if you’re improving, that’s good,” Shildt said. “With this specific one, if he’s not showing any incremental improvement, that that usually means a longer time frame … but if he has some improvement early, it means that it’s starting to release a little bit more, and it won’t be as long, typically, as what I understand from the medical experts.”

For more Padres news, head over to Padres on SI.