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Chuck King Gave Up Baseball at 23. Years Later, He’s Solidifying Reading’s Rotation

After Not Playing Professional Baseball for Three Years, King Signed with the Phillies in 2024
June 7, 2025

(Reading, PA) - Chuck King thought his playing career was over after his fifth year at TCU. At just 23 years old, King transitioned from a player into a sports science intern with the Horned Frogs. He took a full-time role with the San Diego Padres and as he worked

(Reading, PA) - Chuck King thought his playing career was over after his fifth year at TCU. At just 23 years old, King transitioned from a player into a sports science intern with the Horned Frogs.

He took a full-time role with the San Diego Padres and as he worked with the Padres’ Double-A affiliate, the San Antonio Missions, during the 2022 season, King was relied on to throw with some of the pitchers as their arms grew tired. One of those pitchers was Fred Schlichtholz.

One day after the two warmed up in the outfield, King returned to his computer in the clubhouse when Schlichtholz approached him with a simple yet deep question: Why aren’t you playing? King stumbled over his answer at first. Schlichtholz shot him straight, saying he was wasting his time and his talent. King eventually agreed.

“He kind of put a fire underneath my rear,” King said.

After his conversation with Schlichtholz, King began a journey back as a player. He trained while working as a performance analyst and impressed in a Driveline Pro Day in January 2024, earning a professional contract with the Phillies.

King worked his way through High-A Jersey Shore in 2024 and finished the season with the Fightin Phils. He’s become one of Reading’s most reliable starters this season after transitioning from the bullpen into the rotation, a role that was unfathomable just a few short years ago.

“I bet on myself and found a way to get signed and now I’m here,” King said. “I think this is where I belong. I feel like I’m destined to be around baseball.”

King admittedly felt burnt out after five seasons at TCU. He wasn’t enjoying the game like he had in the past and had “self-sabotaged” himself out of professional opportunities. Longtime friend and Horned Frogs teammate Zach Humphreys said there was a sense of tension in the clubhouse among the entire roster due to the pressure to win.

TCU qualified for trips to Ohama for the College World Series all three seasons before King’s arrival and in his freshman year in 2017. However, the Horned Frogs didn’t make it back in King’s time in Fort Worth.

Humphreys said King didn’t think baseball was exactly what he wanted after college. When King began working in the Padres organization, Schlichtholz saw King often stay within himself, not overstepping his boundaries on a veteran staff.

“When we started talking Chuck was a frozen shrimp over a computer. Back stiff, legs stiff,” Schlichtholz joked. “And then he just fell in love with the game again.”

After Schlichtholz confronted King, the TCU product went deeper into the core of his decision to end his career. The team’s failures mixed with personal doubts created a compounding issue. Outside criticism began to take too much power and put him in a bad space. He needed to get back to loving the game.

Growing up in Coppell, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, King was always the tall, lanky pitcher with a goofy side. Humphreys has known King since they were 10 years old and started playing on a summer team together in high school. When they were 16 playing in a game one summer, Humphreys recalls the team having only nine players and needing King to hit despite being a pitcher only.

King walked up the plate with a full softball helmet with a mask, no batting gloves and an unusual stance as Humphreys remembers. He proceeded to foul a ball off the dirt and into his face, knocking him to the ground. King was taken out of the game and the team forfeited, a memory Humphreys still jokes about today with King.

While TCU’s staff recruited King, they also noticed his catcher in Humphreys and the battery mates moved on to college together. They roomed together as freshmen and his corky personality broke through, often thunderously screaming at the TV after his character died in Fortnite. Fellow pitcher Haylen Green said King was so smart that he would sometimes make up entire stories with elaborate details just to mess with his teammates.

Meanwhile, he was earning his degree in Biology and studying how the urban world and creatures in wildlife could peacefully coexist. One year, King used his off time from baseball to work an internship at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens.

“That goes hand in hand with Chuck just being goofy,” Humphreys said. “You don't hear many baseball players being biology majors with an interest in birds and botany.”

The now 6-foot-5 right-hander enjoys K-pop and anime. He’s not afraid to be himself. But when his search for a job in the biology field ran dry, King returned to baseball on the analytical side.

Humphreys said King always had “electric” stuff since high school but couldn’t throw strikes at a consistent level. He was throwing in the 95-97 mph range early at TCU but lost velocity as they turned him into a starter. King was in the low 90s and used more sinkers, sliders and cutters to work through lineups with dependable command.

King thought his playing career was over but after speaking with Schlichtholz he slowly made his way back. Schlichtholz would tease him about not playing as the 2022 season went on, half-joking that he was so good but allowed others to end his career. He would stretch with the team, walk barefoot with the other pitchers in the outfield and follow many of their routines. Schlichtholz also remembers King throwing a bullpen for coaches in sneakers one time and still sitting in the mid-90s. Afterwards, a few teammates talked smack about him not playing and it fired him up.

In the offseason ahead of the 2023 season, King continued to throw and used his position in analytics to revamp his own mechanics. He was moved to work with the Lake Elsinore Storm, the Padres Single-A affiliate, for the year and stayed consistent in his training while working for the club. He threw more bullpens, this time with Trackman analyzing his work, and saw a few numbers that alerted him it was time to make a move.

“I was putting my head down in some backwoods town in California in low-A like ‘What am I doing here? I should be playing. I should be chasing what I want to chase,’” King said.

He realized he was beginning to get old for a professional athlete's standards. He had one more crack at his dreams and figured he would see what happened. While working at Driveline, He honed in on the lead leg block to throw more fluid. Green said when he worked with him that offseason, it was like talking to a different guy. He had an entirely new understanding of pitching from his work in analytics.

King fired home pitch after pitch in front of a flurry of scouts at the Driveline Pro Day and reached 98 mph. He showcased a splitter and a sweeper and a few days later he was signing a contract with the Phillies.

In spring training ahead of the 2025 season, Philadelphia’s organization told King he’d be transitioning into a starting role. It’s forced him to learn how to be more of an offspeed pitcher, just as he did at TCU. Though, King is finding his groove and playing professionally despite his early doubts.

“The last thing you want to do is put your head on your pillow at night and think man, I didn't give it all I had,” King said.

For a few years, King had this feeling. But with a slight delay, he’s living out his dream and soaking in every second of it.