Padres' Michael King Breaks Silence on Shoulder Injury

The San Diego Padres have been missing starting pitcher Michael King for over a week now with a mysterious shoulder injury that has placed him on the 15-day injured list.

King was scratched from a start on May 24, feeling fine until he woke up the day of the game and felt discomfort.

He has been officially diagnosed with a pinched nerve, according to Padres manager Mike Shildt, though any structural damage has luckily been ruled out.

A timeline for his return is still up in the air. Considering how shoulder injuries can linger, the organization is right to be extremely careful with the injury.

The Padres have aspirations for October, which makes regular season games less of a priority, especially given the team's pitching depth and overall talent level.

As long as the injury does not have long term ramifications, a patient approach would make sense.

“We’ve learned that nothing structurally has taken place of any concern at all,” Shildt told reporters.

"Rotator cuff, the cap, anything with the shoulder is very stable and structurally very good, so that’s obviously great. There’s nothing circulatory that’s concerning as far as thoracic, or anything like that. So that’s clearly good.

“Now we’ve been able to locate what the issue is, and it’s more nerve related. We’re trying to get a handle on how to release that nerve a little bit. … We’ve got some really smart people, including Michael, involved with the process that will get that going as soon as possible. How soon that is is to the discretion of that nerve.”

King has been one of the most solid pitchers in baseball, posting a 2.59 ERA with 64 strikeouts through 55 innings in 10 starts

His performances have been sorely missed, given the Padres' recent bullpen struggles, though these summer pains will be worth it if King is firing on all cylinders come the fall.

King himself is lucky that injury was not worse; he is set to become a free agent this winter, and at the age of 30, he should be poised to get the biggest contract of his career, likely being nine figures over several years.

King was relieved to find out the injury wasn't too severe.

“I think figuring out what it was, went through all the different tests and everything came back clean, which is great,” King said. “I think the thing that we now know is that it was probably a pinched nerve that shut down some, like, muscle function. And now that I went through all the tests and everything was clear, it’s really just building up that muscle again, so it’s definitely making progress, and I’m feeling a lot better than I did a week ago.”

When Will Michael King Return to Padres?

While King is starting to feel better, he doesn't have a firm timetable for a return.

“I don’t know if there is an understanding. Dr. (Bryan Leek) with us has said that he has seen a lot of progress in me, so he doesn’t expect it to be very long. He said that he’s seen some guys take a couple days, some guys take a couple months, and I think that I’m more on the former of that just because the progress I’ve had.”

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