The San Diego Padres signed starting pitcher Nick Pivetta of Victoria, British Columbia to a four-year contract worth $55 million on Wednesday according to Alex Butler of Yahoo! Sports. Pivetta was one of two Canadian starting pitchers to switch teams on Wednesday. The other was Cal Quantrill of Port Hope, Ontario, who went from the Colorado Rockies to the Miami Marlins.
Pivetta is joining his third Major League Baseball team. He previously pitched four seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies from 2017 to 2020, and five seasons with the Boston Red Sox from 2020 to 2024.
This past season for the Red Sox, Pivetta had a record of six wins and 12 losses with an earned run average of 4.14. During 145 2/3 innings pitched, he gave up 128 hits, 67 earned runs, 28 home runs and 36 walks, to go along with 172 strikeouts and a WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 1.13. The WHIP was very respectable for Pivetta when you consider the fact his won/loss record was not very impressive.
Pivetta actually led MLB with 33 starts in 2022. Then in 2023, he split his time as a starter and reliever with 16 starts and 22 relief appearances. Last season, Pivetta returned to the starting rotation full-time with 26 starts. Of his 26 starts were 10 quality starts. He also had five starts where he reached double digits when it came to strikeouts. Pivetta struck out 10 batters on March 29 in a 1-0 Red Sox loss to the Seattle Mariners, on June 26 in a 4-1 Red Sox loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, on July 4 in a 6-5 Red Sox win over the Miami Marlins, on July 10 in a 5-2 Red Sox loss to the Oakland Athletics and on July 29 in a 14-7 Red Sox win over the Mariners.
