SHILDT SAYS: On the eve of Opening Day, the Padres’ manager talks rotation and thoughts about the 2025 season
The Padres open the 2025 season Thursday at 1:10 p.m. against Atlanta at Petco Park.
Padres manager Mike Shildt discussed a variety of topics on the eve of the opener in his first Petco Park media scrum of the season.
Shildt on the rotation:
“Michael King starts the opener, Dylan Cease starts Friday and Nick Pivetta Sunday,” said Shildt. “Kyle Hart and Randy Vásquez will round out the three and five spots. We’ll name Saturday’s starter a little later.”
“The last two spots were a hard decision. There was a lot of good competition. We’re newer to Hart, but he has international experience. He dominated in Korea last year. It doesn’t hurt to have a lefty in the rotation. He had a solid spring.”
“Vásquez got better as the spring progressed. He had nine or 10 scoreless innings in his last couple outings. Last game four innings, 39 strikes in 44 pitches. Vásquez had 20 starts for us last year and was a contributor in a Major League role. Part of it was Randy getting more aggressive later in camp. He took control of counts.”
“(Stephen) Kolek was good. He did everything we asked. It’s going to be a longer season for all of them. We’re going to need them all. Stephen was a reliever last year, a starter previously. Getting him started in more of a conservative manner was a factor in the final decision.”
Shildt’s thoughts about Opening Day:
“Opening Day is a special day,” he said. “I’m full of gratitude to be able to look up into the stands at the most wonderful fans in baseball. To be in the game and manage this team, I don’t take any of it for granted.”
Shildt on the drive to reach the playoffs in back-to-back seasons:
“We’re very motivated,” he said. “Repeating is part of that. We’re ready to compete year-in, year-out. I’m very excited about being a part of the best decade in the Padres’ history. Sustaining success is why I’m here. The group is ready to seek that.”
“I think it’s important to get off to a good start. We’re ready. We had a great spring training. We’re ready in every phase of the game to compete and execute. You want to get off to a good start, be good in the middle and get better as you go along and finish strong.”
Shildt on the Padres’ biggest improvement over a year ago:
“We have more continuity and clarity in how we compete,” he said. “Our offensive identity, which we created really well in our Petco Park hitting. Our culture. And how we defend. Continue to be good at base running. Our process was really good last year. Pitching with (pitching coach) Ruben (Niebla). We can be a little more consistent.”
Shildt on finishing the 2024 regular season on a 43–19 run:
“We did get better. We were at .500 almost at the half-way point. Last year, we lose a Cy Young Award winner (Blake Snell), a generational talent (Juan Soto), not having (Yu) Darvish and (Joe) Musgrove plus (Xander) Bogaerts being out for two months and (Fernando) Tatis (Jr.) playing on a broken leg. I felt pretty good about being .500 for all those variables.”
“Plus, we had a new staff and a new manager. It takes a while for everyone to get their footing. I feel it got better as the season went. I get the privilege to work with this group every day. That’s all I can ask for. It only validated what I already felt good about.”
“Now, there’s some real familiarity and continuity. Having the experience of last year. Having players coming in to build on that.”
Shildt on is he concerned about getting production from the bottom third of his lineup:
“We had a similar question going into last year,” said Shildt. “I think the lineup in general was a question mark specific to the bottom half of the lineup last year. There was uncertainty about the kind of production we were going to get.”
“Ultimately, I felt that was the strength of the club. At the starting point, I like the players we have on our roster. We have guys who we think can get it done. Really good players who have established themselves in this league. Beyond that, having a hitting identity with production coming in a lot of ways. If we get that from the bottom half, we’ll be in good shape.”
