Matt

Waldron

Waldron gave up two hits, issued a pair of walks and only notched one strikeout. The 28-year-old doesn’t have a clear path to a spot in San Diego’s season-opening rotation following the offseason additions of Nick Pivetta and Kyle Hart, which means he’ll likely open the year as a multi-inning relief option or head back to Triple-A El Paso.

Waldron had his knuckleball dancing on Thursday, striking out Brent Rooker and Esteury Ruiz while issuing only one free pass on the afternoon. The lone hit against him came on a leadoff single by Gio Urshela in the second inning. Waldron looks to be in a fierce battle with Kyle Hart for the final spot in the Padres’ Opening Day rotation and he hasn’t done anything to hurt his cause through two strong outings in Cactus League play.

Waldron struck out two without allowing a walk. The knuckleballer is the favorite to win the final spot in the San Diego rotation, but he’ll need to hold off Randy Vasquez, Kyle Hart and a couple other potential arms to win the gig.

The contract is for $1 million for 2025 with a $5 million club option for 2026 that can reach up to $7.5 million based on games started. The 32-year-old posted a 2.69 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, and an 182/38 K/BB ratio over 157 innings over 26 starts in the Korea Baseball Organization in 2024. Hart used a new sweeper, a heavier reliance on his changeup, and a new attack plan with his four-seam fastball up in the zone to win the Choi Dong-won Award, which is the KBO equivalent of the Cy Young Award. Hart will enter camp competing for the final spot in the Padres’ rotation with Matt Waldron, Jhony Brito, and Randy Vasquez.

Even though everyone aside from Bryan Hoeing should be available in relief of Martín Pérez, the Padres felt they needed one more arm for Sunday’s game. Waldron had a 4.58 ERA in four starts after being demoted to El Paso. He isn’t likely to factor into the Padres’ postseason plans.

Waldron appears to have hit the dreaded rookie wall as he’s surrendered a staggering 22 runs over his last three starts. It’s a bit unclear where the Padres go from here, but the 27-year-old is going to get some time to figure things out in the minors away from the spotlight. He was extremely effective in the first half of the year, so we’re fairly confident he’s going to make an impact for fantasy managers at some point down the road.

Waldron seems to have lost his feel for the knuckler some — he used it a season-low 24% of the time tonight — and he’s now gotten hit hard in three straight starts, taking his ERA from 3.79 to 4.79. His rotation spot should be in some jeopardy at this point, though he could turn things around very quickly if he gets the good knuckler back.

Waldron dug himself and the Padres a big hole by allowing four runs in the first, including a three-run blast to Brendan Rodgers. The 27-year-old also allowed a two-run homer to Charlie Blackmon an inning later, and an RBI single to Jordan Beck in the sixth. Waldron has allowed a dozen runs over his last two starts, and that brings his ERA up to 4.29. He’ll try and get back on the right track

Waldron was long gone before Saturday’s extra-inning marathon was finally settled. He gave up five hits, including a fourth-inning solo blast to Vidal Bruján. He struck out five and only issued a pair of walks. He leaned pretty heavily on his knuckleball in this one, which has been a recipe for success this season, but it didn’t pan out against the Marlins. He’ll bring a respectable 4.00 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 121/38 K/BB ratio across 132 2/3 innings (24 starts) into a challenging road matchup on Friday against the Rockies at Coors Field.

The 27-year-old knuckleballer allowed just two hits and two walks during the impressive outing. He served up a solo homer to Brenton Doyle in the fourth inning, but aside from that he was absolutely phenomenal. Waldron got nine whiffs on 80 pitches on the afternoon — five of them on his knuckleball — while registering a CSW of 34 percent. He’ll look to keep the good times rolling as he carries a 3.79 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and a 116/36 K/BB ratio (128 1/3 innings) into Sunday’s showdown against the Marlins in Miami.