The Padres acquired starting pitcher Michael King in a 2023 trade that sent Juan Soto to the New York Yankees.
After being traded to San Diego, King pitched his first full season in the starting rotation in 2024, posting a 2.95 ERA over a career-high 173â…” innings and finishing seventh in NL Cy Young voting. Following an injury-riddled 2025, King re-signed with the Padres in the offseason on a three-year deal with player opt-outs after each season.
King and his wife, Sheila, a Type 1 diabetic, launched The King of the Hill Foundation in 2024 to raise awareness for the disease. They welcomed their first child, Grace, last summer.
Your full name is Michael McRae King. Does McRae carry any significance?
A: It is my dad’s grandmother’s maiden name, and it is now my daughter’s middle name.
Grace McRae. Beautiful. You grew up in Rhode Island. What’s the most Rhode Island thing about you?
A: Lobster is probably the one that I would go to. On holidays, we would actually eat lobster instead of, like, the normal Christmas ham. Thanksgiving, we still do turkey. But lobsters for birthdays, for Christmas. We do it a lot.
Your dad started an ice cream business when you were a kid, GaGa’s SherBetter. Great name. A mix between sherbert and ice cream. Did you have unlimited amounts as a kid?
A: We did have unlimited amounts, but we also were put to work as children, so there’s some child labor laws that could be inflicted on my dad (laughs). I think we were getting paid 25 cents an hour to put stickers on pints because that was the most efficient way of doing it. So it was my dad’s grandmother’s recipe. He used to be a news anchor and he was out of a job for a year or so and he said, ‘I want to make this and sell it and have this be my job.’ And my mom’s line was, ‘Why don’t you do something useful and go clean the garage?’ But it ended up keeping us afloat for about 15 years.
I didn’t know he was a news anchor. Did you have any training growing up? Do you want to try a little anchoring?
A: Absolutely not. I think my dad had a great career. I do not want to be a news anchor in my career. My mom’s a PR director as well, and so I do think they helped me a little bit in terms of media training.
You are very good with the media. OK, you went to Boston College out of high school. Are you glad you got a college experience?
A: I am, especially because I don’t think I was that good in high school. I wasn’t throwing that hard. I didn’t get drafted out of high school. I didn’t find myself as a pitcher until, like, my sophomore year of college. And I have no idea if I would have found that as a 19-year-old in some random Florida or Arizona league. I ended up having incredible friends that are lifelong friends. My best man (in my wedding) was my roommate in college. So I had an awesome college experience, and it definitely prepared me for the pros.
Michael King #34 of the San Diego Padres looks on during their spring training game against Great Britain at the Peoria Sports Complex on Wednesday, March 4, 2026 in Peoria, Ariz. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
When you were with the Yankees, you pitched an immaculate inning against the Red Sox. That had to be so surreal, especially since that was a rivalry you watched growing up.
A: Yes. The funny thing is that I was sure that I did it, but nobody else acted like I did it. (Catcher) Gary Sanchez, he just catches (the ball) and throws it to the first baseman, who takes it and throws it up into the stands. And I was like, ‘There’s no way that my teammates would just throw the ball up into the stands.’ Like there had to be a foul ball in there that I didn’t remember and it was 10 pitches, not an immaculate inning. And I walked into the dugout, and it was (outfielder) Ryan LaMarre who was like, ‘That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!’ I said, ‘It was immaculate, right?!’ And so yeah, it was immaculate, but I have no ball to prove it.
The Yankees used you mostly as a reliever. At one point, you went to manager Aaron Boone and asked him to use you as a starter. Did it take courage to do that?Â
A: It’s funny, because if you ask all the relievers in our locker room right now, I would say that 90% of them do not want to start. You either want to start or you want to be a reliever and there’s really no in-between. Unfortunately for us at the time, the Yankees had a bunch of injuries at the starting position. We were really thin down there. I was the long guy in the ‘pen and I was still throwing high leverage. I remember going into Boone’s office and just saying, ‘You trust me in high leverage to go multiple times through the order. Why wouldn’t you let me do it to start the game and use me for 100 pitches instead of the 45 that I’m doing?’ And there was definitely a little pushback. But ultimately, he let me do it. I’m very thankful he did.
What do you take from your time in the bullpen to the starting rotation?
A: How to put up a zero. You can kind of see starters go through a game, and I don’t want to say coast, but like, it’s honestly OK if you give up a run or two in the first five or six innings because it’s not the seventh, eighth or ninth. If you get runners in scoring position, you want to minimize and keep the pitch count low. And there were times in 2024 — when I played my first full year as a starter — that Ruben (Niebla) was saying, ‘Get that out of your head. Because it’s OK. If we’re up 5-0 and you have bases loaded, you can minimize and stay efficient, and we can go from there.’ Whereas I was saying, ‘I’m just gonna strike out the world,’ and now all of a sudden my pitch count goes through the roof and I only go five innings, when I should be cruising because we have a huge lead. So it was learning when to turn that bullpen mentality on that Ruben really helped me with in ’24.
Now you’re a lockdown starter for the Padres, a top-of-the-rotation guy. What has made the most impact for you in terms of becoming that guy?
A: Well, I’ll give Corey Kluber a huge shout-out. In the minor leagues, I had a really good sinker. I had good command of a sinker, and then I had decent command of offspeed pitches, but they were terrible offspeed offerings. And I got to the big leagues and you can see my 2020 stats. They’re not very good. Because a big-league hitter can just see, ‘Oh, he only has a fastball? Easy, I’m gonna sit on fastball.’ And they got me. In 2021, when Kluber was my teammate, he taught me the Kluber ball — the now-sweeper — but at the time it was probably Adam Ottavino, Kluber, Chaz Roe. Those were the only guys that were throwing it. So it was just an anomaly pitch. And when Kluber taught me that pitch, I started to get swing-and-miss on an offspeed pitch. And then my full arsenal started to take shape and I was able to go multiple times through an order because then I developed a four-seam, and then I developed a changeup. And so I think that the development of a full arsenal really helped me solidify myself as a starter.
How does something like that come about? Did you ask him to teach you?
A: I was throwing a bullpen in Texas. It was the day before, (Kluber) threw a no-hitter in Texas, which I then was like, ‘OK, I have to throw this pitch now.’ But Gerrit Cole was standing behind me. We were talking before, probably like the week leading up to that bullpen, of how bad my slider is and how we need to fine-tune it. Gerrit was trying to help me with different pitch grips. Kluber was just standing there listening. And he then came up to me and said — and Kluber doesn’t speak often, so when he does, you know that it’s intentful — and so he came up to me and said, ‘I think we have a very similar release point, similar mechanics into how we get to that release point. Try this grip and try this cue in your mechanics.’ And the first one I threw was perfect. And I looked back at him like, ‘Whoa.’ I want to give a shout-out to Gerrit, because Gerrit definitely helped me with other things. But Kluber’s ultimate cue was the one that really got me that sweeper, and it carried me to where I’m at.
Baseball is so crazy like that. Let’s talk about how you’re an East Coast guy who married an East Coast girl, and then you both had to suddenly move to the West Coast. What was that like?
A: Yeah. It was a shock to the system. She’s (from) New Jersey. I’m from Rhode Island. We both met at Boston College. Getting traded over here, it was the week before we were getting married in New York. So it was definitely a crazy flip to our entire lives. I wouldn’t say it wasn’t hard. I mean, Arizona spring training was totally different. Get out to San Diego and you’re still learning friends. It’s not like you immediately come in and have all these friends. So we’re pretty lonely with no family and friends in San Diego, and we’re still learning the guys on the team and their wives and who Sheila is going to be friends with. I remember halfway through the year being like, ‘This is pretty tough.’ And then that second half, we started playing really well as a team. Sheila started to see a lot more girlfriends and wives and get really close with them. We started our foundation out here because we found out that there are a ton of diabetes tech companies that are based in San Diego. So then we thought, ‘All right, this is God telling us that this is where we’re supposed to be.’ And we ended up having an awesome 2024, carried on in ’25. We had our daughter in ’25. It wasn’t great on the field for me with the injuries, but still, having a baby out there makes San Diego home. So it was a very easy decision once (Padres president of baseball operations A.J.) Preller came calling this past offseason.
From left, Padres pitchers Kyle Hart, Jason Adam, Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta watch Michael King throw in the bullpen at the Peoria Sports Complex on Tuesday. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
It’s two different worlds though, right? Who has the better drivers?
A: It is, it is. It’s two different worlds. Growing up in Rhode Island with the ‘Massholes,’ I’d say the drivers are probably better in San Diego. It is a much more laid-back lifestyle, much more happier lifestyle. I walk by people on the street smiling. You’re in New York, you’re in Boston and you’re walking, heads down, you’re just going directly from Point A to Point B. You’re not letting anybody get in your path. So it was a total change in my personality, but a good one. And obviously, I love the East Coast. I love San Diego too.
You have a great friendship with Nick Pivetta. What is something about Nick that we don’t know that you have learned about him?
A: There’s no chance you’re getting any information from me (laughs). That is up to Nick to share. He tries to keep it very high level with the media, and I’m gonna let him keep that.
But you’ve enjoyed getting to know him?
A: Oh, yeah. I mean, Nick, I’ve said this so many times: Playing against him and watching him skip off the mound and yell and grunt, you’re like, ‘This guy’s a loser.’ And when he came over here, obviously, I had an open opinion, open mind about him. He signed late in spring training and by opening day, was my best friend on the team. It was that quick that I realized how awesome of a guy he is. He’s just an ultimate competitor, so it’s a guy you never want to play against, but you want him in your foxhole. I became very close with him within the first couple weeks of him being over here.
Michael King laughs during a news conference after the Padres re-signed him to a three-year, $75-million contract at Petco Park on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Your sister Olivia is a professional singer. She sang the National Anthem at Petco Park and performed in Gallagher Square. Do you have any singing talents?
A: Oh, it all went to her. She’s very good. It is so embarrassing if you wanted me to sing. She also was a phenomenal athlete, so I think she got all of the talent. I’m just trying to fight to still be relevant in the family.
Mason Miller, who is diabetic, is part of your King of the Hill Foundation. How meaningful is that?
A: Yes, he’s part of our board. And that was when he was on the (Oakland Athletics) because that was in 2024. I had a couple buddies on the A’s and got in touch with him and he was all for it. So obviously, he’s one of the huge success stories of figuring out your sugars and being able to now throw 103 (mph). He’s just influential to so many kids that get (diabetes) and you have no idea what’s happening and what your body’s going to go through. It’s an annoying disease. I’ve seen my wife get woken up at 3 a.m. so many times, and we got a screaming baby, and now her sugars are going nuts, and she still has to be the person that she is. And it’s the same thing when you’re out on the field. If your sugars are going nuts, it’s tough. But not only that, if it goes unwatched, you’re going to have a short life because you’re going to go to organ failure very quickly. People think that there’s a cure for it just because you have technology to manage it, but it’s a 24/7 thing that’s really hard.
You and Sheila had a baby last summer. What’s been most significant to you about dad life?
A: My respect for my wife has increased. Like infinitely. But just the joy. I mean, you come home and (Grace) has no idea if I just threw a perfect game or got absolutely shelled, and walking inside and seeing her big smile when she sees me, it’s incredible. And the phases of life. I keep thinking, like, ‘This is the greatest phase right now.’ And then she said, ‘Da-Da’ the other day. Now I’m like, ‘OK, this is the greatest thing in the world.’ I just can’t wait for all those milestones. She’s incredible.
Gavin Sheets, also a first-time father, had his daughter the day before yours. Who can change a diaper faster?
A: Me, 100%. You could probably ask him and he would agree on that. But if you ask who bathes their daughter better, he bathes his daughter better.