King Carries Birdball Mentality to Pro Ball

Grit. Hard work. Chemistry. Birdball mentality.

Former Boston College pitcher and current New York Yankees' prospect Michael King stresses these characteristics as the backbone to the success he and his Eagle teammates experienced as a team at the collegiate level and the continued success they've gained individually in pro ball.

"Our success and chemistry was a testament to [head coach Mike] Gambino and how he recruited us; knowing that we were high-character kids that were going to mesh well together on and off the field," recalled King. "Being best friends with your teammates made playing the game so much easier."

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King, a 12^th-round pick of the Miami Marlins in 2016, experienced his greatest season of professional success this past year. He was named the Yankees' Pitching Prospect of the Year by MLB.com, which ranks him as the No. 24 prospect in the organization, after pitching at three levels in 2018.

Traded by the Marlins, along with international slot money, for two Yankees' prospects with MLB experience last November, King set out on a new path towards the majors with a new organization this spring.

"When I first got that call, it kind of freaked me out a bit," King said of being traded. "I don't know where I stand in the organization. I felt like I knew what my progression was with the Marlins and what I needed to do to get to the big leagues and now coming over here I had no idea what their plans for me were. [The Yankees] treated me unbelievably well in spring training and all through the season so I have zero complaints about getting traded."

A Yankees fan growing up, he was initially assigned to High-A with the Tampa Yankees of the Florida State League. He excelled with a 1.79 earned run average, 1.07 WHIP and .219 batting average against in just seven games before being promoted.

His longest stop of the season was 12 games, including 11 starts, with the Trenton Thunder of the Double-A Eastern League. King went 6-2 with a 2.09 ERA and struck out 76 batters to just 13 walks in 82 innings of work. He finished the year with a six-game stint at Triple-A, playing for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders of the International League. He was 4-0 with a 1.15 ERA to push his season totals to an 11-5 record, 1.79 ERA and 152 strikeouts in 161.1 innings; his largest workload as a professional.

"The coaches helped make it a simple move," King said of pitching for a variety of teams. "I definitely had to stick with my routine at whatever level I was at. I couldn't change it because I moved up to Double-A or Triple-A. I kept all of the weird superstitions or weird little things that I do pregame and throughout the week with video work and preparation on the same day and doing it at the same time. I knew that gave me the best opportunity to succeed at any level.

"I have to give a lot of credit to coach [Jim] Foster. He was our pitching coach when I was [at BC]. Our pitching staff clicked with him really well. He was able to teach us how to read swings, read hitters and that's the kind of stuff that I took with me into pro ball."

In his final season at BC, King and the Eagles reached the program's first ACC tournament since 2010, first NCAA Regional since 2009 and the first NCAA Super Regional in program history. King was the winning pitcher in an elimination game against Miami to push Boston College to within one win of its first College World Series appearance since 1967.

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That 2016 BC team went 35-22 overall with ACC Series wins over NC State, defending CWS champion Virginia, perennial Omaha team Louisville, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech. The Eagles earned the three-seed at the Oxford (Miss.) Regional and rolled through the field with three wins in three games as King contributed a win over Utah to put BC in the Regional Final.

"We couldn't lose," stated King. "We knew our identity as a team and how to play to the best of our abilities and that's what we did."

Boston College's magical season came to an end in Coral Gables; a 9-4 loss in the Super Regional Final. The Eagles' rise into the national spotlight that season was no surprise to King or anyone else in the BC clubhouse.

"You could see when I came in my freshman year that there was a lot of talent," he added. "It was a matter of just slowly coming together as a team. We relied on each other. We definitely weren't the most talented team in the tournament and I think that's how Gambino recruits us. He tries to recruit the right guys and we just meshed as a team."

The 2016 MLB Draft saw five Eagles fly off the board; the highest total since a program-record six players were drafted in 2010. Justin Dunn, the Mets' No. 4 prospect and organizational Pitcher of the Year, was drafted in the first round with the 19^th overall pick. King went in the 12^th followed by Jesse Adams (14^th – Reds), Nick Sciortino (17^th – Red Sox) and Joe Cronin (34^th – Twins).

"When we were in college, we were just thinking that we were going to be the gritty team that goes out and plays and the hard work pays off," commented King. "We always kind of joke about it, but it was in the back of our minds the whole time. Then we moved forward and saw that it actually worked so we've taken that mentality to pro ball."

King and his classmates moved on to the professional ranks after leaving their mark on the program. Boston College's 2016 season carried the momentum necessary to move the team from its long-time home on Shea Field and into the brand-new Harrington Athletics Village, which opened in the spring of 2018.

"I still haven't seen the new field," said King. "Everyone says, 'you're going to be mad' and I ask 'why, what's wrong with it?'. 'You're going to be made you didn't play on this field'. Gambino's line is 'you've got to leave the program better than when you got here' and our entire class felt like it has done that."

Boston College's future success will be built at its new ballpark on the shoulders of the teams that came before and established the foundation for the program. Individually, King hopes to build further success on the mound with the Yankees.

"The big thing that I want to focus on this offseason, in terms of my development, is my slider and making my slider a plus-secondary pitch. I think that can definitely help me out in the future, whether it's back in Triple-A or in the big leagues."

The road to the majors is rarely ever easy. There will always be obstacles. Talent-heavy big-league clubs, prospect-laden Triple-A lineups, the grind of the minors, the heat of summer. For King, however, the characteristics that landed him on BC's radar in high school and the mentality it takes to play at Boston College have prepared him for the work it takes to succeed.

The Bishop Hendricken product had options coming out of high school after earning Louisville Slugger First-Team All-America and Rhode Island Gatorade Player of the Year, but in the end there was only one choice for King.

"Once I started to talk to Gambino it seemed like a perfect fit. I knew it was the best decision I made."

Boston College Athletics

King Carries Birdball Mentality to Pro Ball

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