Padres roster review: Kyle Hart
Sizing up the Padres’ 40-man roster heading into the 2025 season: Kyle Hart won the KBO’s top pitching award in 2024, but is looking to land back in the majors via a lottery ticket contract with San Diego..
KYLE HART
Position(s): Left-handed pitcher
Bats / Throws: Left / Left
2025 opening day age: 32
Height / Weight: 6-foot-5 / 200 pounds
How acquired: Signed as a free agent in February 2025
Contract status: Will make $1 million in 2025; The Padres have a $5 million club option for 2026 and a $500,000 buyout.
fWAR in 2024: N/A
Key 2024 stats (Korea): 13-3, 2.69 ERA, 182 strikeouts, 38 walks, 1.03 WHIP, 157 innings (26 starts)
STAT TO NOTE
10.4 — Hart’s strikeout rate, per nine innings, in his one year in Korea, up from what he averaged over parts of seven minor league seasons (7.9), including his last year in the States (8.7). Hart struck out 10.6 batters per nine innings in minimal time in the majors in 2020 (11 IP).
TRENDING
Up — A 19th-round pick of the Red Sox out of Indiana in 2016, Hart made his debut during the pandemic, but he bounced from the Phillies to the Mariners in 2023 and opted to pitch in Korea in 2024. He wound up signing with the NC Dinos of the Korean Baseball Organization for the 2024 season and went on to win that league’s equivalent to a Cy Young Award. To do it, Hart lowered his arm slot, developed a sweeper and saw his velocity tick up to 92 mph. How that plays in the majors remains to be seen, but Hart is a low-cost, low-risk lottery ticket who jumped at the opportunity to continue to develop under Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla.
2025 OUTLOOK
Hart is competing against the likes of Matt Waldron, Randy Vásquez, Stephen Kolek and Jhony Brito this spring for a spot in the back of the Padres rotation. He has minor league options left so he could move between the majors and Triple-A El Paso if he doesn’t win an opening day job.
Kyle Hart works through drills during Padres spring training workouts at the Peoria Sports Complex on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025 in Peoria, Ariz.. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Kyle Hart works through drills during Padres spring training workouts at the Peoria Sports Complex on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025 in Peoria, Ariz.. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Roster rankings
1. OF Fernando Tatis Jr.
2. 3B Manny Machado
3. RHP Michael King
4. RHP Dylan Cease
5. OF Jackson Merrill
6. RHP Yu Darvish
7. INF Luis Arraez
8. INF Xander Bogaerts
9. RHP Robert Suarez
10. INF Jake Cronenworth
11. RHP Jason Adam
12. RHP Joe Musgrove
13. Adrián Morejón
14. RHP Jeremiah Estrada
15. RHP Matt Waldron
16. INF Eguy Rosario
17. RHP Randy Vásquez
18. RHP Bryan Hoeing
19. LHP Yuki Matsui
20. RHP Sean Reynolds
21. C Luis Campusano
22. RHP Jhony Brito
23. RHP Alek Jacob
24. C Elías Díaz
25. OF Tirso Ornelas
26. RHP Ryan Bergert
27. RHP Henry Baez
28. LHP Omar Cruz
29. OF Brandon Lockridge
30. LHP Tom Cosgrove
31. RHP Stephen Kolek
32. RHP Juan Nuñez
33. RHP Ron Marinaccio
34. LHP Kyle Hart
35. C Brett Sullivan
36. UT Tyler Wade
37. LHP Wandy Peralta.
Young SF Giants middle infield prospect faces difficult challenge in minor league game..
When SF Giants middle infield prospect Jhonny Level was born, Justin Verlander was getting ready for his third major league season in what would become a Hall of Fame career. Who knew the two would face off in a minor league game nearly 18 years later?
Young SF Giants middle infield prospect faces difficult challenge in minor league game
If you are a young prospect looking to make a positive impression with the coaching staff, you typically relish at the idea of facing off against older competition. Level probably was not expecting that it would include the old active player in baseball.
