Call to the Pen 14 hours ago
Examining Michael King’s dominance for New York Yankees
New York Yankees reliever Michael King has turned into one of the best relievers in baseball this season. What has led to this development? When the New York Yankees acquired Michael King in November 2017, most viewed it as your typical minor offseason transaction. Fast forward five years later, and this trade has become significant […] Examining Michael King’s dominance for New York Yankees - Call to the Pen - Call to the Pen - A Major League Baseball Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More
Pinstripe Alley Jun 29, 2022
Michael King and Clarke Schmidt have opened up the Yankees’ roster flexibility
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports These two’s contributions will go a long way for the team in trade deadline season. Not many teams are afforded the opportunity to put clear-cut major league starting pitchers in their bullpen. It takes a few different things working out all at the same time. The first factor is pitching depth, and I’m not just talking a bunch of pitchers worthy of being on a major league roster. I’m talking a full rotation, bullpen, and upper-level minor league’s worth of good pitchers. The second is health — you never know what might happen with...
Pinstripe Alley Jun 24, 2022
Ron Marinaccio’s prominence should surge, given his terrific year
Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports Marinaccio has been one the unheralded bright spots for the Yankees. Does he deserve more credit and a bigger role? The Yankees have made a bit of a habit of adding unheralded players into the bullpen and turning them into stars (à la Clay Holmes and Michael King). Ron Marinaccio might just become part of that tradition. He has quietly been producing excellent relief appearances for the Yankees, and though others are clearly ahead of him on the pecking order, he has gotten some key outs. And apart from two outings early in April where he...
Pinstripe Alley Jun 23, 2022
Fixing Clarke Schmidt’s four-seamer
Photo by Sarah Stier/ The pitch has elite raw metrics but poor results. Welcome to another installation in the Yankees Separation pitching series. Today will be almost a hybrid of two different pieces I’ve written already. I’ve talked about how Michael King reshaped his four-seamer to create separation off his sinker and I’ve written about how Clarke Schmidt’s embrace of the whirly slider creates separation off the movement profile off his knuckle curveball. Today, I will be looking at Schmidt’s four-seamer and see if he would stand to gain from adjustments...
Blogging the Bombers | New York Daily News Jun 22, 2022
Michael King and Clay Holmes have been dominant, but their heavy workload is concerning
Michael King and Clay Holmes have been terrific, reliable and dominant. The bullpen has been hit by injuries, so they've shouldered immense workloads thus far.
Pinstripe Alley Jun 21, 2022
The Yankees should be wary of King and Holmes’ respective workloads
Photo by Steven King/Icon Sportswire via Both pitchers rank inside MLB’s top 15 relievers in innings pitched, and the Yankees should not overuse them. The Yankees bullpen has been stellar all season. Before action began on Monday, it was third in MLB in WAR with 3.4, fourth in ERA with 2.95, and third in FIP with 3.19. The eye test returns equally good results. One can argue, however, that a good chunk of the unit’s success so far can be attributed to a couple All-Star candidates: Michael King and Clay Holmes. The former owns a 2.41 ERA in 37.1 frames, with an...
Pinstripe Alley Jun 15, 2022
Today on Pinstripe Alley - 6/15/22
Photo by Mike Stobe/ The Yankees and Rays are back at it in the Bronx. The Yankees took advantage of some Rays defensive sloppiness last night to score their only runs, and the pitching staff threw shutout ball. The last inning of Gerrit Cole’s outing wasn’t smooth, but he escaped with a double play anyway. From there, Wandy Peralta, Michael King, and Clay Holmes took control with three goose eggs on the scoreboard. Now, the Yankees have a win in the bank in this series, which is especially comforting since they have to face the intimidating Shane McClanahan...
