Yankees: Aaron Boone needs to find roles for these three relievers

2. Michael King

Yankees fans definitely like Michael King, but what is his role?

We got to see Michael King make his MLB debut in 2019 against the Texas Rangers, and he’s been back this year in a middle relief capacity. However, it hasn’t exactly gone great. While he did manage to keep the game within reach on Sunday night (3.2 innings pitched, 2ER, 2H, 4K), his outing against the Nationals when relieving James Paxton (again) was worse.

In that 9-2 loss, King surrendered four earned runs on four hits in 3.1 innings. That’s six earned runs (three homers) in seven innings of work. The numbers look bad, but his stuff does look good. He’s not erratic. He can pound the zone. He’s got good movement.

Maybe he should get a spot start here and there? It seems like he could serve as a good opener if we needed it. Maybe he comes in a la our Nelson suggestion but doesn’t go longer than two innings. King is still getting acclimated to life in the majors, but the Yankees have pitching depth for days, so it’d helpful if they can put him on a more clear path since his relief outings that have gone beyond three innings haven’t turned out so great.