Padres Have Multiple Paths to Deploying Newly Re-Signed Kyle Hart in 2026

The San Diego Padres registered their first notable transaction of the 2025-26 offseason earlier this week, bringing back pitcher Kyle Hart on a one-year deal with a 2027 option. It's not a needle-mover in any sense, but given the absence of depth in the pitching staff at present, it's the kind of necessary move (at a low price point) that the organization is likely going to seek as they build out their staff for next season. 

But determining exactly where Hart fits in the staff ahead of next season is anyone's guess. 

The numbers weren't great in his first season stateside after a year in South Korea. Deployed out of the gate as the fifth starter, Hart's first 21 innings featured a 6.00 ERA and 6.18 FIP across five starts in March and April. That the early season sample includes a six-inning, zero-run start against Colorado speaks to how brutal the rest of his outings were to start the year. As a result, Hart found himself bound for El Paso until July, save for a quick start at the end of May. 

When Hart returned, it was exclusively in relief. The results remained mixed, but at least not in a way that was putting an extra burden on an already-heavily-utilized relief corps. All told, Hart finished with a 6.66 ERA, a 6.56 FIP, a 15.5 percent strikeout rate, and a 5.5 percent walk rate as a starter (25.2 innings). As a reliever (17.1 innings), he checked in at a 4.67 ERA, a 3.14 FIP, a 29.0 percent strikeout rate, and a 10.1 percent walk rate. 

On the surface, it's an easy call. Hart was more effective as a reliever, not only in terms of statistical outcomes but in underlying trends. Being more matchup-centric worked in his favor as his hard hit rate was cut by eight percent (20.0) while he generated groundballs at a rate roughly 13 percent higher than as a starter (41.0). And while it's easy to declare matchups as the reason for his success, it's at least a little bit more complicated than that. 

The following is Hart's pitch usage from 2025: 

What's interesting is that against left-handed hitters, Hart never threw a changeup or a splitter. In every month, he peppered lefty hitters with sinkers and sweepers, as his cumulative pitch distribution would indicate. But righties weren't getting even close to the same mix. Not that you should expect them to. When Hart was working in relief, though, right-handed hitters saw more changeups in August than any other pitch type while the splitter was his second-most-used offering. It speaks to the overall chaos that one might expect to see when looking at Hart's pitch mix exclusively against righties: 

It's the look of a guy who didn't necessarily know what he wanted to do. Meanwhile, he was getting decimated by hitters of the opposite handedness. His .359 wOBA allowed versus righty hitters was more than 120 points higher than it was against lefties (.237). His strikeout rate was three percent lower (19.7 percent) and his walk rate three percent higher (8.2 percent) when he was facing a right-handed hitter as opposed to a left-handed one. His hard contact rate (by FanGraphs' reporting of it) was about 20 percent higher when facing a hitter of the opposite handedness. 

When you combine the chaos of Hart's mix against right-handed hitters with the actual results, you very much have the look of a guy who you want to deploy as more of a specialist (or, at least what can be deemed a specialist given the minimum-batter requirement for relievers these days). And it's not as if there's a real argument to be made at this point, either. Hart was considerably better as a reliever and vastly better against lefties. Keeping him in relief allows you to meld the two and find some sustainable results.

How well that matches up against reality, however, remains to be seen. Exclusively working as a reliever is the obvious path. But the Padres likely signed Hart with an eye on a sort of swingman role considering an absence of starting depth (or, you know, actual starters) at present. Which means that some work is going to have to be done with his usage and the subsequent command to get him going toward at least an average track against right-handed hitters. Because the "success vs. lefties, throw everything to righties and find out if any of it works" modus operandi as a starter is exactly what the Padres do not need from Kyle Hart in 2026.