NEW YORK — Yankees reliever Michael King went through a first big step of possibly being ready for 2023 Opening Day on Wednesday. His surgery to repair a fracture in his pitching elbow has been completed, but it’ll be unknown at least for another two months if the right-hander is out of the woods from needing Tommy John surgery, too.
“I think in eight-to-10 weeks or so, when this heals, they’ll revisit what they think from a ligament standpoint,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before his club’s Subway Series game against the Mets.
A report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post on Tuesday had King receiving good news about his elbow ligament, but multiple doctors apparently have looked at the MRI and they’re not all on the same page.
“There are differing opinions there and they want to compare it to old things and see where it is as this heals,” Boone said. “I don’t know all the intricacies of it, but I think they just will have a better idea of it with some more time.”
The timeframe for recovering from Tommy John surgery would be much longer and could sideline King for most or all of the 2023 season. If Wednesday’s procedure is the only one, King may be fully healthy for the start of spring training next February.
King injured his elbow throwing a pitch in the eighth inning of Friday night’s game in Baltimore. X-rays that night confirmed the fracture.
King, 27, was in the midst of a breakout season as the Yankees’ setup reliever for All-Star closer Clay Holmes when blowing out his elbow. In 34 appearances, he was 6-3 with a 2.29 ERA, 66 strikeouts and 16 walks in 51 innings.
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Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com.
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