San Diego Padres 2025 Starting Pitcher Of The Year

When Nick Pivetta signed a four-year, $55 million contract this offseason with the Padres, no one quite knew how important that deal would be for San Diego. In a year plagued with injuries to key starters, Pivetta stepped up to the occasion and was, without a doubt, the best starter this season for the Padres. 

Pivetta’s rise to the top of San Diego’s rotation was unexpected, but crucial to any of the Padres’ postseason hopes. With Joe Musgrove out for the season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, in conjunction with Yu Darvish and Michael King spending the majority of the season on the IL, someone had to fill the void on the mound. Even Dylan Cease, who was expected to be the Padres' ace this season, had his fair share of struggles. Despite the tremendous uncertainty in the rotation, Pivetta stepped in and dealt a career season in his first with the Padres. 

Numbers-wise, this was the best season of the 32-year-old’s career, and it’s not even close. In his tenth MLB season, Pivetta put up career-bests and led all Padres starters in the following statistics:

• 2.87 ERA
• 5.3 WAR
• 0.985 WHIP
• 3.50 FIP
• 13-5 record
• 181.2 IP

To put that into perspective, in his entire MLB career, Pivetta never achieved a sub-3.00 ERA, sub-1.00 WHIP, or a WAR above 3 until this season. Despite solid years in Boston and Philadelphia prior to signing with San Diego, Pivetta has never pitched close to the level he showcased with the Friars in 2025. He was brought in by A.J. Preller to bring depth and stability to the rotation as a veteran, but was so much more. 

Pivetta boasts a six-pitch arsenal, featuring a four-seam fastball (46% usage), curveball (22% usage), sweeper (17% usage), cutter (9% usage), sinker (4% usage), and slider (2% usage). Out of his most used pitches, his four-seamer and sweeper are particularly effective. On his four seamer, Pivetta generated a 24.1 Whiff% and just a .195 batting average. On the sweeper, he tallied an impressive 37.4 Whiff% and .157 batting average. 

On left-handed hitters, Pivetta keeps it simple, mostly dealing his four seamer and changeup. Against righties, he brings a more varied selection, activating that very effective sweeper, as well as sinkers and cutters. Overall, he shuts down hitters on both sides of the plate, allowing a .205 batting average against righties and just .185 against lefties. 

According to Baseball Savant, Pivetta burdens elite value, ranking in the 99th percentile of pitching run value, 98th percentile of fastball run value, and 97th percentile of breaking run value. Not too shabby for a guy who was originally brought in as a rotational depth piece. 

Going into the postseason, Pivetta assumed a much bigger role for the Padres than initially believed. He was brilliant in a Game 1 loss in the Wild Card Round to the Chicago Cubs, striking out nine over five innings. Unfortunately, he surrendered back-to-back solo home runs in the fifth inning that proved to be the difference, but he was as good as advertised while making his first postseason appearance since 2021.

In a season of injuries and uncertainty in the rotation for the Padres, Pivetta stood out from the rest. He was an unexpected hero for the Friars this season, blowing any expectations completely out of the water. His consistently high-level play this season kept the team afloat in a campaign where any crack from the rotation could have caused everything to crumble. 

Nobody saw it coming in April, but Nick Pivetta is your San Diego Padres starter of the year.