Evaluating the Juan Soto trade: How are the players Yankees sent to Padres doing now?
SAN DIEGO – One hundred and sixty-nine days after the blockbuster Juan Soto trade, the Yankees and San Diego Padres meet this weekend at Petco Park.
Soto’s arrival back in “America’s Finest City’’ is the marquee event, but it’s also a chance for the visitors to catch up with Michael King, the key figure going West in a seven-player deal.
King won’t be starting in this three-game set for the Padres (27-26), who arrived home Friday in second place, 6.5 games behind the NL West leading Los Angeles Dodgers.
Soto has been a huge reason the AL East-leading Yankees (35-17) entered the start of a three-city, West coast trip with the AL’s best record.
Here’s a look at how the players traded by the Yankees are doing:
Michael King
Firmly in San Diego’s rotation, the right-hander is 4-4 with a 4.28 ERA in 11 games (10 starts).
King, who turns 29 on Saturday, has yielded the most home runs (12) and walks (28) of any NL pitcher this year, with 67 strikeouts in 61 innings.
Last year, as a valuable multi-inning reliever and later a starter with the Yanks (9 games), King only walked 32 batters in 104.2 total innings, with 127 strikeouts and a 2.75 ERA.
But he’s pitched better lately, with a 3.24 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in four May starts.
Jhony Brito
After a rough start in San Diego’s bullpen, Brito has a 2.14 ERA over his last 12 appearances, limiting batters to a .594 OPS.
Overall, the 26-year-old right-hander is 1-2 with a 3.96 ERA in 16 games, all in relief.
In his rookie season last year with the Yankees, Brito split time as a starter and reliever, with a 9-7 record and 4.28 ERA in 25 total games.
Kyle Higashioka
The longest currently tenured Yankee before the Soto trade, the well-liked Higashioka is now the backup catcher to Luis Campusano.
It’s been a rough start for Higashioka, 34, batting .140 in just 15 games, with one homer and three RBI in 43 at-bats.
In addition to Soto, the Yankees received two-time Gold Glove Award winning outfielder Trent Grisham, but the lefty hitter has played in just 19 games, batting .056 (2-for-36).
Randy Vasquez
After slotting into San Diego’s rotation for three games, the right-hander was optioned back to Triple-A this week as Joe Musgrove (elbow) returned from the IL.
Over those three starts, Vasquez went 0-2 with a 5.79 ERA, with losses to the Colorado Rockies and Atlanta Braves.
Vasquez has made five total appearances for the Padres this year, all starts, and he’s 0-3 with a 5.82 ERA.
Drew Thorpe
Three months after his inclusion in the Soto trade, Thorpe was shipped to the Chicago White Sox, in a deal that sent Dylan Cease to San Diego.
Thorpe, 23, has excelled in eight starts for Chicago’s Class AA Birmingham affiliate, with a 6-1 record, 1.50 ERA and 0.929 WHIP.
A second-round draft pick by the Yankees in 2022, Thorpe was named Minor League Pitching Prospect of the Year in 2023, going a combined 14-2 with a 2.52 ERA at Class A Hudson Valley and Class AA Somerset.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Juan Soto trade: How are the players Yankees sent to Padres doing now?
