Padres ace credits bullpen exit in 2023 helping Yankees’ Juan Soto acquisition

San Diego Padres starting pitcher Michael King spoke about his shift from a reliever to to a starter and how it helped the New York Yankees land Juan Soto in 2023.

The 29-year-old pitcher started his career with the Yankees but eventually took on a starting pitcher role 2023, which earned him a move to the Padres. Speaking on a recent episode of Casa De Klub, King revealed how Corey Kluber helped him become a starting pitcher and how it helped the Yankees land Juan Soto (11:45 - 14:14):

"I honestly think, and now I'm going to go back to Kluber here, in '21 he threw his no-hitter in Texas. The day before that he was watching one of my bullpens and I had one of the worst sliders known to man. ... He gave me a little bit of a grip change and cue.

"And I threw the first one and on Trackman it actually had the movement that I wanted to. I was like...alright Kluber knows what he's doing so I got to try to master this pitch."

He continued:

"I think that that allowed me to be able to flip a lineup ... towards the end of '21 I felt like I had a starter's arsenal...and then didn't get a full opportunity until 2023.

"I was obviously very appreciative of Boone letting me do that and ultimately it's gotten me where I am. It obviously got the Yankees Soto in that moment too. The Padres needed starting pitching and if I was still a reliever I don't know who else they would've traded. I think it ended up being a win-win for everybody."

Michael King made his major league debut with the New York Yankees as a reliever in 2019 but urged manager Aaron Boone to use him as a starter. After injuries hampered his 2021 and 2022 seasons, he became a starter with the Yankees in 2023.

King was expected to be a part of the starting rotation next year. However, he was traded to the San Diego Padres as a part of the Juan Soto trade and ended up joining the starting rotation there.

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Juan Soto's career projections through 2039 with the Mets, based on Fangraphs

Having made his major league debut with the Washington Nationals at a young age of 19, Juan Soto has put up impressive career numbers for his age. At 26, he has already played 936 games, recording 934 hits, 769 BB, 201 home runs and 591 RBI.

After his historic 15-year contract with the New York Mets, here's a look at his career projections according to Fangraphs.

Soto is expected to record 2,725 BB over his career, which would be the highest in the history of the MLB. Other stats include 102.3 fWAR, 573 home runs, 2,844 hits and 1,789 RBI.