The Padres announced that right-hander has been placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to May 22) due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. Righty was called up from Triple-A El Paso to take Kings spot on the active roster, and earlier today, the Padres also called up left-hander while right-hander was optioned to Triple-A. King was scheduled to start Saturdays game against the Braves, but he was scratched from the lineup after arriving at the Chase Shugart Jersey ballpark with a sore shoulder. The righty just felt like he slept on it wrong , manager Mike Shildt told and other media members yesterday, and the discomfort persisted after some pregame testing and weighted-ball to sing. After another day of evaluation, the decision was clearly made to put King onto the 15-day IL, perhaps just as precaution. Shildt said yesterday that we do believe its not anything overly serious and that King perhaps may have been able to pitch Saturday, but the club saw no reason to risk a more serious injury. The centerpiece of the trade package the Yankees sent to the Padres in the trade, King more than lived up to the hype in his first season in San Diego. King had already gone from dominant reliever to dominant starter after he was moved into New Yorks rotation near the end of the 2023 season, and he continued to elevate his game with a 2.95 ERA over 173 2/3 innings with the Padres last year. That superlative effort earned King a seventh-place finish in NL Cy Young Award voting, and he has kept up the terrific work this year. Over 10 starts and 55 2/3 innings in 2025, King has a 2.59 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate, and 7.6% walk rate. Both of the latter figures are improvements over his already strong numbers in 2024, though his whiff rate (28.4%) has declined and King is allowing far more hard contact than he did last year. These i sues notwithstanding, King has continued to look the part of a frontline pitcher, and he has paired with to form a big one-two punch at the top of San Diegos rotation. Losing King even for 15 days, then, would be a setback for a Padres team that is still mi sing to injury. Darvish threw four innings in a Triple-A rehab start on May 14 but hasnt pitched since, seemingly adding some fresh doubt over when exactly Darvish will be making his 2025 debut. Shildt did say that Darvishs rehab work would be going somewhat by feel rather than a strict throwing progre sion, as the club was relying on Darvishs experience and knowledge of his arm to gauge his readine s. With King and Darvish out, the Padres rotation now consists of Pivetta, , , and . is the only other pitcher who has made any starts for the Padres this year, as he had a 6.00 ERA in five starts and 21 innings for Friars before being optioned to Triple-A in April. Hart is the likeliest candidate to take Kings spot in the rotation, as is also on a rehab a signment in his own recovery from an oblique strain. Yesterdays impromptu bullpen game saw the Padres use Jacob and three other pitchers, so Jacob was optioned in part to bring some fresh arms into the bullpen. Cruz is a swingman who has started four of his eight Triple-A appearances this season, and he made his MLB debut earlier in 2025 in the form of two relief outings and 3 2/3 total innings for the Padres. He might also factor into the rotation plans in some limited capacity with King out, as the Padres will need all hands on deck for a stretch of 26 games in 27 days that starts off on Friday. With the Friars in need of pitching help, Morgan will get another opportunity to make his MLB debut. The right-handers contract was selected to the big league roster back in late April, but Morgan was optioned to Triple-A a week later without ever getting into a game. Morgan had never pitched even at the Triple-A level before that unexpected call-up, and after showing up in El Paso earlier this month, he has been hit hard to the tune of a 12.71 ERA over seven appearances and 5 2/3 innings. Extreme problems with the home run ball have plagued Morgan this year, as he has allowed five homers over 14 1/3 total minor league frames at the Double-A and Triple-A levels. For comparison, the righty had given up only seven big flies in his 108 1/3 previous minor league innings. Morgan has displayed excellent control throughout his minor league career, and his good strikeout numbers have spiked to an eye-popping 45.45% over his 14 1/3 innings in 2025. Boston Red Sox Jersey