This story was excerpted from Bryan Hoch’s Yankees Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

We’ve seen plenty of triple-digit velocity out of the Yankees’ bullpen in recent years -- Aroldis Chapman all but made it his trademark after touching 105 mph earlier in his career -- but Michael King never expected to be included in that group.

The right-hander was pleasantly surprised during a recent appearance, when he felt a heater pop out of his hand, whirled to check the Yankee Stadium scoreboard and saw the radar gun reading: 100.3 mph, the first time that the 27-year-old has touched those numbers.

“I would hope to make it a regular thing,” said King, discussing his June 26 appearance against the Astros. “I felt that I stepped on the four-seamer to [Alex Bregman]. I turned around and saw 100; the first three digits I’ve ever seen, so it made my heart jump. I was like, ‘Wait, I don’t throw 100.’”

Apparently, now he does. A strong candidate for the American League All-Star team, King has been one of the circuit’s better relievers this season, pitching to a 2.27 ERA with 59 strikeouts through 27 appearances. In 43 2/3 innings, King has permitted only 30 hits while walking just 14.

One of those free passes, we should note, came later in that at-bat against Bregman. But King recovered, inducing a flyout and a popout in foul territory to end the 10th inning, picking up the victory when Aaron Judge slugged a walk-off three-run homer.

Judge’s blast was the undisputed highlight, but King’s fastball generated some conversation as the Yankees celebrated their victory.

“Albert Abreu was talking about it, because in 2018 when I was in High-A with him, I was like 89 to 92 [mph],” King said. “He’s like, ‘What the hell?’ Throwing out of the bullpen, it’s easy to just max-effort it. I’ve seen my velo steadily tick up a little bit, and I think when you train fast, you start to actually do fast things. Because I’m trying to throw as hard as I can in the bullpen, I feel like my velo continues to tick up a little bit.”