Yankees’ Michael King flops in big spot as mechanical issue remains

It didn’t take long for Yankees manager Aaron Boone to realize that one of the team’s key relievers still hasn’t solved a mechanical problem.

It didn’t take Michael King to realize it, either.

Boone thought the team had pinpointed something in King’s setup to explain why he had allowed seven runs (six earned) across his last five outings heading into Friday.

But then Adolis Garcia blasted King’s first pitch of the 10th inning for a two-run homer and the Yankees lost 4-2 to the Rangers.

“Just can’t throw it over the middle,” King said. “Good hitter, and if I make a mistake, he’s gonna hit it and I just didn’t execute the pitch.”

The loss dropped King to 1-4 this season, and his ERA jumped to 3.15.

About two weeks ago, King thought he had solved his problem.

The Yankees had compared video of the right-hander from this season to video from 2022, and they noticed that he was more square to the plate and “not really getting like a back leg drive,” he said.

They changed his positioning to try to make the leg drive easier, but King has now wrestled with the balance of pitching freely in a game and consciously thinking about whether he’s meeting the new benchmarks.

“The first couple, I was thinking mechanically, and then I realized that that isn’t a good mentality to have when you’re facing big-league hitters,” King said. “So then I just went more into focusing on it in catch play and bullpens and then attacking hitters, and I fell right back into the same habits.

“It’s kinda back and forth for the last couple outings, and I just gotta find the right groove.”

Boone said that he hopes the adjustments will allow King to get his crispness and power back with all his pitches, including his sinker and breaking balls.

He has lacked the “extra bit of sharpness that he gets when he’s lights-out,” Boone said, but that still didn’t materialize Friday.

“Obviously, it takes time,” King said, “but I’ve been throwing a few bullpens the last week or so trying to figure it out, and it still hasn’t clicked yet.”