Nick Pivetta
Then the San Diego Padres brought in right-hander Nick Pivetta during the offseason, the expectation was that he’d fill a mid-rotation role.
But injuries to Yu Darvish and Michael King have pushed Pivetta into a leading role in the Padres’ 2025 rotation. Darvish started the season on the injured list and has yet to pitch as the year nears its halfway point, while King went down in May with a pinched nerve. With no clear timetable for either pitcher’s return, Pivetta has played a key role in holding together a thin rotation in the highly competitive National League West.
Pivetta stepped up again on Wednesday, throwing seven shutout innings with 10 strikeouts and no walks in a 1-0 victory over the Washington Nationals at Petco Park. Washington didn’t manage a single runner in scoring position while he was on the mound.
The Padres signed Pivetta to a four-year, $55 million contract following a relatively quiet offseason focused on adding veteran depth. Some of those moves haven’t panned out — Connor Joe and Jason Heyward, also offseason signings, are no longer with the team — but Pivetta has been a clear success.
His dominant outing on Wednesday lowered his ERA to 3.36 and marked the fourth time this season he’s gone seven scoreless innings.
Pivetta credits his strong year to two main factors.
“Signing somewhere long-term has helped me out a lot,” he told MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. “But the openness that [pitching coach] Ruben [Niebla] has, the way he communicates — it’s helped me a lot, and it’s kind of led to a lot of success.”
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