Masahiro Tanaka will not be on the Yankees’ Opening Day roster, but he may not be far behind.
Though the veteran right-hander took a key step forward Tuesday, facing live hitters for the first time since getting a line drive to the head and suffering a concussion on July 4, he still won’t be ready in time for his first turn through the rotation. If all goes as planned, Tanaka will face hitters again on Sunday in Scranton and could be ready to come off the injured list and rejoin the Yankees rotation by July 31.
In the meantime, manager Aaron Boone announced Tuesday that Michael King has made the team and could be in line to pitch Sunday in a bullpen game against the Nationals to fill Tanaka’s spot.
Gerrit Cole and James Paxton will start the first two games of the season, and J.A. Happ will go Monday against the Phillies. Cole could come back on regular rest to pitch again Tuesday — especially in light of the Yankees optioning Jordan Montgomery to the alternate training site, with another starter not needed until Wednesday’s home opener.
Tanaka threw 20 pitches Tuesday at Yankee Stadium and is expected to throw 35-40 on Sunday, building him back up after the scary line drive from Giancarlo Stanton disrupted his spring training 2.0.
“It actually kind of crossed my mind for the very first pitch, but after I threw that, it was back to business, back to normal,” Tanaka said through an interpreter.
Tanaka said he did not consider using an L screen Tuesday because he would never have one in a real game.
“I thought he was strong,” Boone said. “Fastball had life to it. I thought the stuff was pretty good and I thought it was just an important step getting back out there and facing hitters. … I was really encouraged by what I saw.”
The 24-year-old King, meanwhile, earned the chance to start the season on the Yankees’ 30-man roster with his performance in spring training 2.0.
“He came into summer camp from a make-the-club standpoint — he really needed to show something and I feel like he more than did that,” Boone said. “He has a chance to really impact our club this year.”