Padres’ Potential 5th Starter Wants to Be This Year’s Michael King

Maren Angus-Coombs | Mar 18, 2025

Feb 25, 2025; Peoria, Arizona, USA; San Diego Padres pitcher Stephen Kolek (32) throws against the Los Angeles Angels during the first inning at Peoria Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images / Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

The San Diego Padres named Michael King their Opening Day starter and now one of his teammates is looking to follow in his footsteps.

Stephen Kolek is a right-hander who arrived in professional baseball as a starter but was moved to the bullpen early on. San Diego is stretching him this spring to potentially rejoin the starting rotation.

While in camp with King, Kolek has been soaking up any lesson King is willing to teach him.

“He’s a guy that’s really trying to learn,” King said about Kolek. “And it’s refreshing to have a guy come up to me and say: ‘You sequence well, you read swings – what you got for me? What can I do better?’”

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Kolek and King are similar pitchers. They have a similar arsenal that includes a commanding fastball, a solid changeup, a sweeper, and a cutter.

“We have, obviously, very similar arsenals,” Kolek said. “We throw a lot of the same sort of stuff. Whenever I’m looking at him, in my mind I’m always trying to … just pay attention to how he goes about it. And also, there’s the game-planning side of things. Even before getting into the game -- what are some things he’s looking for? What’s the strategy behind it?”

Kolek has appeared in thee games this spring, only starting one. He has only given up one earned run on five hits across nine innings of work. He has only walked one and struck out five while limiting opponents to a .185 average against.

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The right-hander isn't just leaning on King to get better. He has been spending time with Yu Darvish, Nick Pivetta, and Joe Musgrove to add a little of each to his game.

“I applaud Kolek for being open-minded to say, ‘OK, our [pitch] shapes are similar, now how do you use them?’” said manager Mike Shildt. “‘How do you work off of them? What’s your thought process with how you set up hitters?’ So that part’s great.

“And then in general what I really, really appreciate … is the more that we can share our information, the better version of players we’re going to have. And the better version of a team we’re going to have.”

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