BALTIMORE — Michael King’s goal last season was to throw 100 innings, in whatever role the Yankees needed him.
The right-hander didn’t ultimately get there, in part because of a finger injury that cost him two months, but he still proved to become a valuable member of the bullpen in the process.
Through the first week of this season, he has looked like even more of a weapon for manager Aaron Boone.
After making his first two appearances in multi-inning efforts, King was called upon Thursday night in the ultimate pressure situation to clean up the ninth-inning mess made by Aroldis Chapman. With the bases loaded and no outs in a game the Yankees led the Blue Jays, 3-0, King hardly broke a sweat and quickly recorded his first career save in the big leagues.
“He walks out there with a confidence and a fearlessness to which he pitches now,” Boone said Friday before the Yankees opened a series against the Orioles at Camden Yards. “For all guys, it comes back to strike throwing, but when he’s on the attack and throwing strikes, he’s got plenty of weapons to do what he did [Thursday] night.”
Coming on in relief for Chapman, who walked the bases loaded by throwing just four of his 16 pitches for strikes, King needed only five pitches, all strikes, to retire the side. He struck out George Springer and got Bo Bichette to hit into a game-ending double play.
It marked King’s first save since last September with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre while he was on a rehab assignment. He had one other save in his minor league career (in 2016) and also had four while pitching at Boston College — not that he remembered any of them Thursday night, he said.
“I really wasn’t thinking about it in the moment, but after [Anthony] Rizzo gave me the ball, I thought it was pretty cool,” King said. “This one will definitely stand out.”
While King may not necessarily be in for many more save opportunities this season, Thursday’s showing was the latest reminder that he can still serve in an important role for the Yankees. His ability to go multiple innings is always valuable, but especially early on this season as the rotation is still building up its workload after a shortened spring training.
Boone can also turn to King in high-leverage situations, though, as he did Thursday night.
“We saw him emerge last year,” Boone said. “He’s always been a confident guy, but I think the strides we saw him make at this level last year and really pitching in a lot of important roles for us, was huge in his development. He’s worked hard in the winter to continue to work at his craft. He’s a guy that is interested in all the tools to continue to help him get better and he’s applying them.”
The 26-year-old King posted a 3.55 ERA across 63 ¹/₃ innings last season while striking out 62 and walking 24. He started six games when the Yankees needed to fill a hole in the rotation, but otherwise has offered length in the bullpen while also turning into one of Boone’s trusted high-leverage relievers.
This spring, King said that preparing for such a versatile role came with a learning curve when he first broke into the majors in 2020. But he has learned to attack each inning like it is the only inning he will throw on a given night, taking on more of a bullpen mentality. Through 5 ²/₃ innings entering Friday, he had given up just one earned run on six hits and one walk while striking out seven.
King has also benefited from the emergence of his breaking ball, a slider/curveball hybrid that Corey Kluber played an important role in developing when the two were teammates last year.