Michael King has been a starter his whole career in the minor leagues, but just four of his 17 MLB outings have come in that role entering Sunday – including his last one, three innings behind Corey Kluber after Kluber left Tuesday’s game with a shoulder strain.
However, one day after Deivi Garcia failed to get out of the fifth inning in his first chance to claim Kluber’s open spot, King will take the hill on Sunday hoping to give the Yankees as much length as he can.
“150 pitch complete game,” he joked when asked how much length he could give Sunday, before saying that “I think I went 55 pitches in my last outing, so maybe around 70, but we’ll see.”
King acknowledges that he’s not stretched out fully, a result of him being shuttled back and forth between the Majors and the Alternate Site in April before returning to the Yankees’ bullpen for good on May 1.
All seven of King’s MLB outings this year, though, have gone multiple innings, his longest and perhaps best six innings of one-hit shutout ball behind Domingo German on April 4. He threw a season-high 69 pitches in his next outing on April 16 and then 54 on Tuesday, so that 70 prediction might be about right.
Regardless of when he enters the game to throw them, however, King’s mindset stays the same – and he thinks it might actually be easier to do it as a starter.
“Not too much changes on my preparation, and I feel like it’s a little easier because I don’t have to pay attention to the pitchers before me,” King said. “For the most part, I feel like my role is to flip the lineup a couple times anyway, so it’s the same approach of how to get a guy out multiple times.”
King can’t wait, as he feels he didn’t truly capitalize on the starting opportunities he had last season, and hopes to step up to help fill Kluber’s void, one that manager Aaron Boone said after Saturday’s game was “a fluid situation.”
“I know the Tigers have a lot of lefties, and I’ve obviously had more success against righties,” he said, “but if I get my changeup and that glove-side sinker working, I’m confident I’ll have success.”
A strong outing could give King a leg up to “fill the pretty big shoes” of Kluber, especially since Garcia was optioned to Triple-A after Saturday’s game, but he’s not feeling any pressure, even with the Yankees looking to avoid a sweep in Detroit.
“I have to take it one game at a time. You never want to lose two in a row, but you take it day-by-day, because no one game is weighted any heavier than another,” King said. “I just have to go out there and do my job.”
One thing he will have behind him is a fully-rested bullpen, as Albert Abreu pitched 3 2/3 innings behind Garcia Saturday, and was also optioned to Triple-A after the game – meaning the Yankees will have one or two fresh arms coming Sunday, in addition to a remainder of the bullpen that got Sunday off.
“Abreu did a great job keeping our bullpen fresh,” King said. “I know I’m not fully stretched out and don’t know how many pitches or innings I’ll be able to get, so having him go 3 2/3 was huge for us.”
The Yankees have two pitchers on their 40-man roster at Triple-A, righties Brooks Kriske and Nick Nelson, but Kriske threw 1 2/3 innings in Scranton’s game Saturday night. The Yankees do also have two 60-day injured list candidates in Kluber and Aaron Hicks, who looks to be out for the season, so the team could add someone not on the roster.
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