When you talk about the top ace pitchers in the ACC, your mind quickly turns to guys like Kyle Funkhouser of Louisville, Connor Jones at Virginia, or Brian Brown at NC State.
You probably wouldn’t think of  at Boston College, but once the 2016 season has been played, that might change.
Last season, King was quietly very effective for an Eagles team that was much improved. King pitched in 14 games, making eight starts. In 62.1 innings across those appearances, he had a 3.03 ERA, striking out 52 and walking just 12. Opposing batters hit just .235 off of him as well.
If you’re looking for more evidence that King is capable of taking another step forward and becoming a workhorse ace on Friday night for BC, look no further than month-long stretch beginning in mid-March.
On March 21st against NC State, King threw five shutout innings, striking out six. A week later against Duke, he threw 6.2 innings, giving up four hits and one earned run with five strikeouts. His next start, against Wake Forest, was his worst of this stretch, as he gave up three earned runs in five innings of work.
Against Clemson the next week, he surrendered two earned runs in five innings of work, which was a step back in the right direction, but that was nothing compared to the gem he worked against Georgia Tech in his next start. At home on April 17, he threw a complete game shutout against the Yellow Jackets, giving up just one hit and no walks with eight strikeouts. He completed his stellar run with eight innings of work the very next week against North Carolina, giving up five hits and one earned run.
On top of that, over the summer, King pitched for Falmouth in the Cape Cod League and handled himself well. Over 22 innings, he struck out 19, walked just five and had a 3.27 ERA.
Under Mike Gambino, Boston College has had recent success in developing pitching prospects. In 2015, two BC pitchers, John Gorman and Jeff Burke, were selected. The year prior, Andrew Chin was drafted. Coming into this season, D1Baseball.com has King as the 154th-ranked prospect in college baseball, meaning Gambino and staff will have at least one more headed through the pipeline.
Even if his star doesn’t rise at all, with that type of acclaim, King has a shot to be a top-ten round pick, but with what he showed in that stretch of starts last season, particularly against Georgia Tech and North Carolina, his ceiling might be even higher than that.
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