Yankees roster crunch acquisition, Mike King paying dividends

Last offseason the Yankees faced a tough situation. With an overload of bullpen arms and limited space on the 40-man roster, the Yanks began shipping off relievers in return for younger players.

One of the trades that also opened up roster space to protect the Yankees very best prospects from the Rule 5 Draft sent RHP Caleb Smith along with first baseman Garrett Cooper to the Marlins for Michael King.

After starting the season in High-A Tampa, King quickly rose through the ranks by dominating the minors leagues. After pitching to a sub-two ERA in seven starts in Tampa, King got promoted to Double-A Trenton where he proceeded to post a 2.09 ERA in 82 innings while striking out 76.

This effort earned him a promotion to Scranton last week where in his first start he pitched seven shutout innings. While King didn’t rank on the Yankees top 30 prospects before the season began, his steady rise through MILB earned him a mid-season No. 25 ranking.

Although King has dominated the minors, his stuff is not exactly the nastiest. He has a good two-seamer that sits in the lower-to-mid 90s that features good “sink and run” according to MLB.com and has excellent command that allows him to place it on the corners of the strike zone.

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However, when it comes to his secondary stuff, it is not exactly impressive. King’s slider and changeup are both solid, but, neither are considered to be a putaway pitch on the MLB level.

If King does not manage to develop a putaway pitch, he could fall back on his fastball in the bullpen. The Yankees already have two elite relievers who almost wholly rely on a fastball with maximum movement — Aroldis Chapman and Dellin Betances.

Perhaps, King can be the right-handed replacement for Zack Britton who similarly depends on a sinker without much else and is likely departing after this season.

However, one of the things King has going for him is his durability.

Since being drafted in 2016, King hasn’t been on the DL one single time and has already eclipsed the 125 IP mark two years in a row. His regular delivery, along with his filled 6-foot-3, 210-pound frame, gives him excellent command and a low risk of injury.

Having just landed in Triple-A and not yet added to the 40-man roster means that we likely won’t see King in the big leagues this year.

However, the continued development of his secondary stuff can very likely lead to a leap forward in Scranton. With the RailRiders, King will work with pitching coach Tommy Phelps who helped turn Chance Adams’ season around by turning his slider into a cutter and guiding Adams towards finding the consistency he needed in his changeup.

If King can get his secondary stuff in order, the Yankees can be looking at a solid 4 or 5 starter that they once got for spare parts. As the Yanks found out this season, you can never have enough pitching depth and King hopefully can help as soon as next year.