Right-hander Yu Darvish will begin the season on the injured list. Manager Mike Shildt informed reporters, including Dennis Lin of The Athletic and AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. The righty was diagnosed with elbow inflammation earlier this week. “We feel pretty comfortable that some rest and getting ramped back up will be the answer,” Shildt says. That doesn’t point to a long absence but it will leave two rotation spots for the trio of Kyle Hart, Stephen Kolek and Randy Vásquez.
Darvish has been dealing with occasional bouts of elbow inflammation for a while now. He finished the 2023 season on the IL due to inflammation in that right elbow. In 2024, he missed time due to various issues. He had some neck tightness, a groin strain, an undisclosed family issue and some more elbow inflammation. He was limited to 81 2/3 innings last year.
Although Shildt downplayed the severity, it’s a somewhat concerning situation. Any injury to a pitcher’s throwing elbow is somewhat alarming. In the case of Darvish, the elbow problems are becoming somewhat frequent and he’s going to turn 39 years old in August.
The San Diego rotation has been an ongoing point of focus. Joe Musgrove required Tommy John surgery in October, blowing a big hole in the 2025 staff. That left them with a front three of Darvish, Dylan Cease and Michael King. They signed Nick Pivetta in the offseason to take a fourth spot.
That left guys like Matt Waldron, Hart, Kolek and Vásquez as contenders for the final rotation spot. But Waldron is on the shelf due to an oblique strain and now Darvish is out. That appears to leave two rotation spots for the Hart/Kolek/Vásquez trio.
Hart has almost no major league experience but dominated in Korea last year. He tossed 157 innings in the KBO with a 2.69 earned run average, 28.8% strikeout rate, 6% walk rate and 46% ground ball rate. That led to a deal with the Padres but he was slowed in camp by the flu. He only made his spring debut on Sunday, tossing three innings.
Kolek just made his big league debut last year, as a Rule 5 pick out of the Mariners organization. He stuck in the San Diego bullpen all year and posted a 5.21 ERA, though with better peripherals. His .359 batting average on balls in play and 64.3% strand rate were both on the unlucky side, so he had a 3.57 FIP and and 3.41 SIERA. He has been getting stretched out in camp and has a 2.19 ERA in 12 1/3 innings.
Vásquez had a 4.87 ERA over 20 starts for the Friars last year. He has only thrown four innings of official Cactus League action, having allowed two earned runs with three strikeouts and one walk. His last official outing was March 2 but he has been throwing on backfields and in sim games.
