SAN DIEGO — The Padres are reuniting with a familiar face, bringing back left-hander Kyle Hart on a one-year deal with a club option for the 2027 season. Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.
Earlier this month, the Padres declined a one-year, $5 million club option on the 32-year-old Hart. But it was always possible that they’d look to bring him back on a smaller deal. That came to fruition on Monday.
Hart mostly struggled in his debut season with the Padres, posting a 5.86 ERA across 20 appearances. He spent much of the year bouncing between Triple-A El Paso and the Majors. But down the stretch, Hart began to show promising signs out of the bullpen — including an uptick in velocity and more movement on his trademark sweeper.
It remains unclear what role Hart would fill in 2026. His stuff played better out of the bullpen in ’25. But the Padres’ need is far greater in the rotation, with Dylan Cease and Michael King on the free-agent market and Yu Darvish set to miss the season following UCL internal brace surgery. It’s possible Hart does a bit of both — or at least enters camp in the starting mix.
Prior to the 2025 season, Hart signed with the Padres on a similar one-year deal. He had spent the previous season pitching for the NC Dinos in the Korea Baseball Organization, where he won the Choi Dong-won Award — the KBO’s equivalent of the Cy Young.
Hart had previously spent seven seasons bouncing around the Minor Leagues with three organizations. He debuted in 2020 with the Red Sox but only appeared in four games, making him one of the ’20 season’s “Lost Boys” — players who debuted that season and only ever played without fans in the stands. Hart shed that label in April when he won his first start with the Padres in front of a packed Petco Park.
Although there’s a clear need in the rotation, Hart could be a nice fit for the bullpen, as well, if he can build on some of his late-season success. The Padres’ bullpen projects as one of the best in baseball. But it could use another left-hander behind top lefty Adrian Morejon to help cover the middle innings. Wandy Peralta and Yuki Matsui are vying for that role, and perhaps Hart is now back in that mix as well.
