Yankees Finally Get Some Good News on Michael King's Elbow Injury
NEW YORK — Michael King may be out for the rest of this season after sustaining a fracture in his right elbow, but it seems like the Yankees avoided the worst-case scenario.
King’s UCL is intact, looking “pretty good for a pitcher,” per Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
With no ligament damage, King only needs surgery to repair the fracture, lessening his road to recovery.
“2023 said to be in play with hope he can even be ready for spring training,” Heyman said in a tweet on Tuesday morning.
If King had UCL damage and required Tommy John surgery, he would’ve almost certainly missed all of next season (in addition to the rest of the 2022 campaign and the playoffs this fall).
Even if King is available next spring, that doesn’t help this club and their depleted bullpen this fall. Losing King was a devastating blow for this team’s pitching staff, a group that already lost Chad Green and Luis Gil for the season (Tommy John surgery) and is presently without a few other arms (Luis Severino and Miguel Castro).
READ: How the Yankees Can Try to Replace Michael King
King had blossomed in a multi-inning role this season, setting up closer Clay Holmes while posting a 2.29 ERA over 34 appearances (51 innings). King has the best fWAR (1.7) among all relievers in the American League as well.
With King out of the picture going forward, New York will rely on a mix of young and veteran arms to step up going forward. Jonathan Loáisiga and Aroldis Chapman will need to recapture their old form in the back end while right-handers Clarke Schmidt and Ron Marinaccio look to continue pitching well in high-leverage spots. Schmidt earned his first career save on Sunday in Baltimore and Marinaccio recently returned from the injured list, riding an impressive streak of 15.1 scoreless innings in a row.
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