The San Diego Padres have put together one of the strongest bullpens in baseball this season, giving the team a reliable presence in the back end of the pitching staff.
The team is led by star closer Mason Miller , but the Padres have multiple other options to use as well. One of those is left-hander Kyle Hart , who has become a true weapon for San Diego .
Hart has made 32 appearances this season (four starts), posting a 4.10 ERA. The left-hander has been with the Padres since 2025, but he almost never joined the team at all.
According to insider Annie Heilbrunn of The San Diego Union-Tribune , Hart almost retired in 2024 before a stint in the Korean Baseball Organization. Hart made his MLB debut in 2020 with the Boston Red Sox , putting up a 15.55 ERA over four appearances.
The left-hander's career was complicated by the COVID pandemic and a bout of Lyme disease. This got him thinking about retirement, almost calling it a career before signing with the KBO in 2024.
Hart made 26 starts in Korea, posting a 13-3 record and a 2.69 ERA. This led him to pursue a return to the big leagues, signing with the Padres ahead of the 2025 season.
"I think that's what makes baseball great is you do well, then you hit a speed bump," Hart said to Heilbrunn. "You go back to work and you're fighting to do well again. And it just seems like that's kind of the epitome of my baseball career is to climb, climb, climb, get knocked back, then keep climbing."
The Padres are happy to have Hart, as he's given them a nice boost out of the bullpen.
Having pitchers like Hart for different situations has allowed the Padres to interchange options over the long regular season. He played a key role in the team's "pitching chaos" strategy before the trade deadline, being used as both a starter and multi-inning reliever.
This directly resulted in the Padres playing much better, with the team now holding a wild-card spot in the National League.
Having the dominant bullpen will help them down the stretch, and if this unit can get into the playoffs, there may not be a more dangerous team in the NL .
"Let's just win games,"Hartsaid when asked about his ever-changing role. "I'm too old for any of this other crap. I just want to win."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/padres/onsi as Padres Pitcher Nearly Retired Before Breaking Out With San Diego .
