Michael King’s stuff is down because his mechanics are out of whack, he believes, and not because his elbow is out of whack.
King, whose fractured elbow cut short his 2022 season last July, has debuted this year with velocity issues that he thinks are fixable.
During Tuesday night’s 4-1 loss to the Phillies in The Bronx, King’s stuff was down across the board.
A four-seam fastball that averaged 96.4 mph last year came through at 93.8 mph, and stuff that had been often unhittable was plenty hittable.
“Mechanically, it feels like my timing’s a little off,” King said after he allowed four hits and two inherited runners to score while recording four outs. “I feel like I’m trying to generate power early in my mechanics.”
King said he might be trying to “muscle up” to gain velocity that has disappeared since early in spring training, which is hurting his mechanics. He said his right elbow feels fine, though, which is the silver lining.
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Not that he wanted to find a silver lining after entering the game in the fifth inning, replacing Domingo German with two outs and two on base.
The Phillies did not crush King, but they did find holes.
Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber hit back-to-back RBI singles, which turned a 2-0 deficit into a 4-0 hole that the Yankees never escaped.
“I’d much rather give up my own runs than Domingo’s,” said King, who was one of the Yankees’ most valuable players in four months of last season, pitching to a 2.29 ERA. “I felt like I spoiled a pretty good start and then blew the game open.”
King, who allowed two runs in 1 ²/₃ innings against the Giants in his season debut Saturday, said he and pitching coach Matt Blake will do a deep-dive into his mechanics to find out what is wrong.
Aaron Judge’s ninth-inning walk extended his career-best on-base streak to 38 games. In the past 19 seasons, only Luke Voit and Mark Teixeira (both 42) have had longer on-base streaks.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone hopes the new pitch clock, which is saving time for everyone around the game, can save players’ legs, too.
Boone pointed out a hidden benefit of game times shrinking as the pitch timer forces pitchers to deliver pitches more rapidly: There is less time for players, particularly big stars who could use a break, to be standing.
“You add up the time off their feet, on the bus, in a hotel room, in bed — whatever it may be,” Boone said. “You keep knocking off 20, 25, 30 minutes 162 times, that’s a lot of time that hopefully serves the players well — not only over the course of a season, but over the course of a guy’s career.”
Through the early days of this season, there has been significantly less time for players such as Judge and Giancarlo Stanton to stand on their feet in the outfield. The Yankees have only played one game in their first five that exceeded three hours.
Last season, on average, nine-inning MLB games were 3 hours and 3 minutes.
Boone said of the new rules that have been implemented this season, the pitch clock is his favorite.
“I think guys have adjusted even quicker than I maybe anticipated,” Boone said. “I think that’ll continue to get more and more seamless to where it’s second-nature for everyone. At what point in the season? I don’t know…. And then the results of that I think are going to be really good for our product and for player health.”
Against lefty Matt Strahm, lefty first baseman Anthony Rizzo received his first day off of the season.
DJ LeMahieu got the start at first base and Aaron Hicks manned left field over Oswaldo Cabrera for a second straight game.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa made his second career start in center field, where he made several routine plays.
“He looks real comfortable,” Boone said of the former everyday shortstop. “His first step, which is a real strength of his as a shortstop, also appears to be the case in the outfield as well.
“I think his athleticism, with his attention to that first step. should serve him well out there.”
The Portland Trail Blazers signed Justin Minaya — the son of Yankees senior adviser (and former Mets GM) Omar Minaya — for the rest of the NBA season.
Justin, a former Providence star, had been playing in the G-League.
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