MLB · P · San Diego Padres
Michael King
B/T R/R · 6' 3" · 210 lb · born Rochester, NY, USA · age 31 · draft 2016 rd 12 · played P 32 · MLB debut 2019-09-27
757 batters faced scored this season His season card →
Scout’s note
Michael King, 31, from Rochester, New York, has 718 strikeouts in 193 career MLB games, and his two MLB starts this fortnight produced 11 of them. He is the one player on this list who needs no introduction and no caveat.
Note written · FVR scout (GLM-5.2)
We wrote about King here — The Buzz September 29, 2026
What he’s paid
Under contractA market fact, not an engine read: what a club decided about him, on the season before this one. Figures from Cot’s.
- 2026 salary
- $28.00M
- Tax hit
- $25.00M
- Service time
- 7 yr 4 d
- Guaranteed
- $75M
The deal 3 years $75M (2026–2028) — $25.0M a year on average, worked out by us rather than stated on the sheet, and not the same thing as the tax hit above
On the sheet: 3 y/$75M (26-28) · agent Excel · 3 / 3 options left
After this season, as the sheet has it
| Season | 2028 | 2029 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash | $30.0M | Free agent |
| Tax hit | $25.0M | — |
Cash and the tax hit are two different rulebooks and are never subtracted from one another — see the payroll board for his club, San Diego Padres.
A second set of books
The same contract, read by MLB Spreadsheets (Ethan Hullihen), as of . We keep two sources on this because one source cannot check itself.
- Tax AAV
- $25.0M
- Guaranteed
- $75.0M
- Term
- 3 yrs
What the sheet prices each season at
| Season | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salary | $5.0M | $28.0M | $30.0M |
A base salary under his own reading, and never subtracted from the cash figure above: a signing bonus lands in one and not the other, so the two disagree on most men without either being wrong. And the sheet does not mark which future seasons are GUARANTEED — a club option and a projected arbitration award are both just a number here, so read past the end of the deal as his forecast rather than as money owed.
The tax AAV above is his number under the CBA’s own rulebook, not the average we work out from Cot’s total. On a contract with deferred money the two come apart on purpose — and neither is subtracted from the other.
The Wire
△ On the field: Michael King worked a first career postseason save on two days' rest to force NLDS Game 4.
X chatter, trailing 2 days · as of 2026-10-11 · newest post 2026-10-10 · summarized by Grok (xAI) · how this works →
Collect Michael King
If the signal is right, the cardboard usually finds out later. Current listings:
Michael King cards on eBay →Paid link — as an eBay Partner, FVR earns from qualifying purchases.
The Bureau on Michael King
The scouting press, in their own words
AJ Preller and the Padres will once again be active this winter. But the biggest question surrounding the team is centered around the futures of Michael King and Adrian Morejon: https://t.co/jyheqH84oD
Podcast https://t.co/bnFJ4r3mzF White Sox GM Chris Getz talks Murakami, how the team has constructed its pitching in this postseason; Michael King emerges from the bullpen and saves the Padres' season v. Milwaukee. @THEREAL_DV talks Dodgers/Braves, Yamamoto, Hernandez, Ohtani. A
What a game. What a performance. What a hero. Michael King saves the Padres' season. They hang onto a 4-3 victory.
Umpire favor
-5.6 net runs over 31 graded games — the zone cost the umpire more than it gave, on balance.
The postseason
Michael King’s playoff games, each on its reconciled card. Kept apart from the season line below — none of it is counted in a season number on this page.
- NL Division Series, Game 3 · SD vs. MIL · 2.0 IP, 1 K, 0 ER
- NL Division Series, Game 2 · SD vs. MIL · 5.0 IP, 6 K, 1 ER
- NL Wild Card Series, Game 1 · SD vs. CHC · 7.0 IP, 8 K, 0 ER
The line
Bio & season lines: MLB StatsAPI · refreshed nightly · abbreviations →