JUPITER, Fla. -- The Marlins were one of the Majors' best teams from June 13 and on, a fact that didn't go unnoticed around the baseball world.
In fact, that was a big reason why lefty reliever John King signed a one-year Major League deal with the Marlins on Thursday night. The contract will be worth $1.5 million, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. King reported to camp on Friday morning, playing catch with fellow signee Chris Paddack.
"It's a really exciting young group, and so just meeting with the team, and their vision of just wanting to win, it really enticed me to be a part of this," said King, whose agent had ties to president of baseball operations Peter Bendix and general manager Gabe Kapler. "And they showed a lot of interest in me too, which is awesome. It was fun to go through that process, and I'm excited to be here."
King, who was non-tendered by the Cardinals in November, has a 111 ERA+ and a 5.9 K/9 rate in 214 career outings across six seasons with the Rangers and Cardinals. The sinkerballer is a ground-ball machine, landing in the 98th percentile in both 2024 (61.5%) and ‘25 (60%).
His career splits are as expected for a southpaw: Righties have posted a slash line of .302/.353/.430; lefties haven’t fared as well, batting .251/.291/.337.
But after King’s career year in 2024 (2.85 ERA in 60 innings), he struggled last season (4.66 ERA in 48 1/3 innings). Miami sold him on the idea of tapping into his potential.
"It was an up-and-down year for sure," King said. "I was working through some mechanical stuff. I was kind of getting caught up and getting behind in the count, and then throwing my sinker more, which is a contact pitch already. I thought I was getting hurt by that. I added a four-seam and a curveball to try to get some more swing and miss last season. I wasn't very comfortable with it.
"I feel like I really worked hard this offseason to dial those in, but also to not get away from who I am, which is sinker, changeup, slider, majority sinker/changeup. So I'm interested to see and excited to see how the Marlins want me to kind of implement the new pitches in my arsenal."
The 31-year-old King will join Cade Gibson and Andrew Nardi as 40-man southpaw options in the Marlins’ bullpen after the club designated for assignment fellow southpaw Josh Simpson to make room on the roster. Miami elected to keep Gibson and Nardi over Simpson, who compiled a 7.34 ERA in 31 appearances as a rookie in 2025. Gibson, meanwhile, posted a 2.63 ERA in 44 outings. Nardi, who hasn’t pitched in a game since August 2024, is trying to put recurring back issues behind him. He took the first step on Wednesday, when pitchers and catchers reported, by throwing a bullpen. By keeping Nardi over Simpson, the Marlins might've felt confident enough in Nardi's recovery and/or Simpson's ability to clear waivers and remain within the organization.
Manager Clayton McCullough called out that southpaw trio as well as Pete Fairbanks, Calvin Faucher, Lake Bachar and Tyler Phillips as righties capable of recording outs against lefty bats.
Earlier Thursday, Miami made its one-year deal with Paddack official and moved righty reliever Ronny Henriquez, who underwent offseason Tommy John surgery, to the 60-day injured list to clear a 40-man roster spot.
King joins Paddack, Fairbanks and Christopher Morel, who will be learning first base, as the Marlins' Major League signings since the end of the 2025 season.
"He throws a ton of strikes and keeps the ball on the ground, has always suppressed slug and damage," McCullough said, "and another one that we feel that our group can maybe help get a little maybe more miss versus left. And he's always going to have the ability to get the ground ball. He's a great dude in talking with him. And getting to know him, I think he's going to fit right in well with us, and someone that will be ready to go take down any situation. And again, going back to the premium ability to fill up the strike zone, keep the ball on the ground, limit damage. Those are all really important things for guys out of the 'pen."