Michael King

Michael King

27-Year-Old PitcherRP
New York Yankees
2023 Fantasy Outlook
King's role as a multi-inning reliever quickly blended into high leverage, as he led the Yankees bullpen in innings (49.1), wins (six) and holds (15) in the first half. The 27-year-old added velocity on his sinker and tripled his slider usage, which led to great results. Unfortunately, his promising start to the season ended just two appearances after the All-Star break, as the right-hander fractured his elbow throwing a pitch. The injury required season-ending surgery to repair the fracture with the possibility of Tommy John as well, but King did not have any UCL damage and avoided the latter. Despite the injury, he completed 51 innings while recording career marks across multiple categories, including games played (34), wins, holds, strikeouts (66), ERA (2.29) and WHIP (1.00). King is in line to return to the mound this spring and should reclaim his multi-inning, high-leverage role for the Yankees if healthy. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
#551
ADP
$Signed a one-year, $1.3 million contract with the Yankees in January of 2023.
Completes live BP session
PNew York Yankees
February 20, 2023
King (elbow) threw his first live batting practice session of the spring Saturday and doesn't appear to have any limitations during camp, Randy Miller of The Newark Star-Ledger reports.
ANALYSIS
King was sidelined for the final two and a half months of the 2022 season after fracturing his right elbow and undergoing surgery, but since he was fortunate enough to avoid any UCL damage, he was able to make a swifter recovery than if he would have required a Tommy John procedure. The Yankees could still opt to use him conservatively in spring training, but assuming he escapes the Grapefruit League slate unscathed, he should settle back in as a multi-inning weapon out of the bullpen. He dazzled over his 51 frames with the big club last season, submitting a 2.29 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 66:16 K:BB while capturing six wins, one save and 16 holds.
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Pitching Stats
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2022
2021
2020
2019
2022 MLB Game Log
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2021 MLB Game Log
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2020 MLB Game Log
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2019 MLB Game Log
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Pitching Appearances Breakdown
Average Pitch Count
23
Last 10 Games
19
Last 5 Games
14
How many pitches does Michael King generally throw?
 
1-10
 
11-20
 
21-30
 
31-40
 
41-50
 
51-60
 
61-70
 
71-80
 
81-90
 
91-100
 
101-110
 
111-120
 
121+
 
1-10
 
11-20
 
21-30
 
31-40
 
41-50
 
51-60
 
61-70
 
71-80
 
81-90
 
91-100
 
101-110
 
111-120
 
121+
 
1-10
 
11-20
 
21-30
 
31-40
 
41-50
 
51-60
 
61-70
 
71-80
 
81-90
 
91-100
 
101-110
 
111-120
 
121+
What part of the game does Michael King generally pitch?
 
 
 
1st
 
 
 
2nd
 
 
 
3rd
 
 
 
4th
 
 
 
5th
 
 
 
6th
 
 
 
7th
 
 
 
8th
 
 
 
9th
 
Extra
 
 
 
1st
 
 
 
2nd
 
 
 
3rd
 
 
 
4th
 
 
 
5th
 
 
 
6th
 
 
 
7th
 
 
 
8th
 
 
 
9th
 
Extra
 
 
 
1st
 
 
 
2nd
 
 
 
3rd
 
 
 
4th
 
 
 
5th
 
 
 
6th
 
 
 
7th
 
 
 
8th
 
 
 
9th
 
Extra
% Games Reaching Innings Threshold
% Games By Number of Innings Pitched
Left/Right Pitching Splits
Since 2020
Even Split
2022
 
 
-11%
BAA vs LHP
2021
 
 
-12%
BAA vs RHP
2020
 
 
-14%
BAA vs LHP
BAA Batters K BB H 2B 3B HR
Since 2020vs Left .230 223 61 22 45 11 1 9
Since 2020vs Right .229 372 93 29 77 13 1 5
2022vs Left .179 71 24 4 12 2 1 2
2022vs Right .200 128 42 12 23 5 0 1
2021vs Left .256 96 24 9 21 5 0 4
2021vs Right .225 179 38 15 36 6 0 2
2020vs Left .255 56 13 9 12 4 0 3
2020vs Right .295 65 13 2 18 2 1 2
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Pitching Splits
Since 2020
 
 
-19%
ERA at Home
2022
 
 
-51%
ERA on Road
2021
 
 
-27%
ERA at Home
2020
 
 
-38%
ERA at Home
ERA WHIP IP W L SV K/9 BB/9 HR/9
Since 2020Home 3.51 1.26 74.1 7 4 1 10.4 3.0 1.2
Since 2020Away 4.32 1.19 66.2 2 5 0 9.2 3.5 0.5
2022Home 3.04 1.16 26.2 6 2 1 12.2 3.7 1.0
2022Away 1.48 0.82 24.1 0 1 0 11.1 1.8 0.0
2021Home 3.06 1.25 35.1 0 2 0 10.2 2.8 1.3
2021Away 4.18 1.32 28.0 2 2 0 7.1 4.2 0.3
2020Home 5.84 1.54 12.1 1 0 0 7.3 2.2 1.5
2020Away 9.42 1.53 14.1 0 2 0 10.0 5.0 1.9
More Splits View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does Michael King compare to other relievers?
This section compares his stats with all relief pitcher seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 30 innings)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 30 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • K/BB
    Strikeout to walk ratio.
  • K/9
    Average strikeouts per nine innings.
  • BB/9
    Average walks per nine innings.
  • HR/9
    Average home runs allowed per nine innings.
  • Fastball
    Average fastball velocity.
  • ERA
    Earned run average. The average earned runs allowed per nine innings.
  • WHIP
    Walks plus hits per inning pitched.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many balls in play against a pitcher go for hits.
  • GB/FB
    Groundball to flyball ratio. The higher the number, the more likely a pitcher is to induce groundballs.
  • Left On Base
    The percentage of base runners that a pitcher strands on base over the course of a season.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Barrels/BBE
    The percentage of batted ball events resulting in a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Spin Rate
    Spin Rate is the rate of spin on a baseball after it is released. It is measured in revolutions per minute (rpm).
  • Balls Hit 95+ MPH
    The percentage of batted balls hit that met or exceeded the 95 MPH threshold.
  • Swinging Strike
    The percentage of pitches that result in a swing and a miss.
K/BB
4.13
 
K/9
11.6
 
BB/9
2.8
 
HR/9
0.5
 
Fastball
95.9 mph
 
ERA
2.29
 
WHIP
1.00
 
BABIP
.291
 
GB/FB
2.04
 
Left On Base
76.9%
 
Exit Velocity
79.8 mph
 
Barrels/BBE
3.5%
 
Spin Rate
2487 rpm
 
Balls Hit 95+ MPH
21.6%
 
Swinging Strike
14.9%
 
Prospect Rankings History
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Defensive Stats
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Stats Vs Today's Lineup
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2021
2020
2019
Injuries throughout the Yankees' rotation presented King a chance to make an impact at the big-league level last season. However, he couldn't take advantage of the opportunity, ending the campaign with a 7.76 ERA and 1.54 WHIP over 26.2 innings. King's 5.09 xFIP implies he wasn't quite as bad as the surface numbers suggest, but it was nonetheless a disappointing showing in light of the team's need for pitching help. Despite yielding relatively modest hard-contact numbers, King was stung by both a high BABIP (.325) and high home-run rate (1.69 HR/9). Perhaps that provides an avenue for improvement, but King will also need to bring down last season's 9.1 BB%, especially given his low strikeout ceiling. He'll turn 26 years old in May, so the organization is likely more interested in seeing what King can do now than in further development.
King missed a good chunk of 2019 with a stress reaction in his elbow and ended up pitching fewer than 50 innings on the season. Over his four-year minor-league career, King has a 2.93 ERA and 1.07 WHIP, with a stingy 1.6 walks-per-nine-innings rate. He doesn't have one particularly great pitch, but a handful of pitches with excellent command help him get enough strikeouts to work as a starting pitcher. It's easy to slap a Kyle Hendricks label on him with those types of numbers, but that is unfair to King given the fact he has all but two innings of major-league experience to his name. King may lack the upside of other pitchers, but the tools are there for him to be a successful back-end starting pitcher in the major leagues, with the right defense and run support behind him. If it doesn't work out in the rotation, his lack of velocity (91 mph sinker is his fastest pitch) limits his ceiling as a reliever.
King spent time at each of the three highest levels of the minors last season, posting good numbers at each stop. In 24 total starts and one relief appearance, the 23-year-old recorded a stellar 1.79 ERA. He backed that number up with excellent peripherals, striking out 24.4% of opposing batters while walking just 4.4%. The breakout season was something of a surprise for a pitcher who hadn't recorded a strikeout rate higher than 17.8% at any prior minor-league stop and who was a 12th-round pick in 2016. He had hardly any hype when the Yankees acquired him in exchange for Garrett Cooper and Caleb Smith last offseason, but New York has one of the best reputations for player development in the league, so there's reason to believe his improvements will stick. Grades on his stuff remain mediocre, but it's possible he gets a shot as a control-first back-end starter as soon as this summer.
More Fantasy News
Throwing all pitches off mound
PNew York Yankees
Elbow
February 15, 2023
King (elbow) said Wednesday that he's thrown about 10 times from a mound over the past six weeks, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports.
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Expects to be ready for Opening Day
PNew York Yankees
Elbow
January 25, 2023
King (elbow) expects to be ready for the start of the season, Brendan Kuty of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
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No arbitration necessary
PNew York Yankees
Elbow
January 14, 2023
King (elbow) signed a one-year deal with the Yankees on Friday, avoiding arbitration.
ANALYSIS
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Doesn't need Tommy John surgery
PNew York Yankees
Elbow
September 29, 2022
King (elbow) learned Thursday that he doesn't need Tommy John surgery, Gary Phillips of SI.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Undergoes surgery
PNew York Yankees
Elbow
July 27, 2022
King (elbow) underwent surgery Wednesday, Lindsey Adler of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
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