Meet the 2019 Yankees: Mike Harkey

If you thought the Yankees pitching staff was good in 2018, wait until you see the 2019 version. With another year of experience under the belt of the likes of Luis Severino and others, the team should be just as good, if not better here in 2019 for a plethora of reasons. A full season of JA Happ, a more productive season by Masahiro Tanaka, the addition of James Paxton, and another great bullpen behind their starters should only help New York grow and achieve their goals here in 2019. The man in charge of that bullpen is a holdover from the Joe Girardi era and the current bullpen coach Mike Harkey. Let’s meet him. This is Meet a Coach: The Mike Harkey Edition.


Michael Anthony Harkey was born on October 25, 1966 and is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. Before Harkey made it to the Show he was a Titan, a California State University Fullerton Titan. Harkey played college baseball at CSU Fullerton where he caught the eye of the Chicago Cubs who made him their first-round pick in the 1987 MLB First Year Players Draft. Harkey was not long for the Minor Leagues as he made his Major League debut with Chicago during the 1988 season.

When all was said and done Harkey appeared in 131 Major League games with the Chicago Cubs, the Colorado Rockies, the Oakland Athletics, the California Angels and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Harkey played in the Major Leagues during the 1988 season, the 1990 through the 1995 seasons, and finally the 1997 season before his eventual retirement. During his early years with the Cubs the current Yankees bullpen coach was plagued by shoulder and arm injuries as well as a knee injury in 1992 that occurred during a cartwheel attempt at Wrigley Field.


Harkey played through the 1997 season at the Major League level before taking a couple years away from the game after his retirement. Harkey returned to the game in 2000 when he accepted a position as a pitching coach in the Minor Leagues with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. Harkey served in the same position with the Fort Wayne Wizards in 2001 and 2003, the Lake Elsinore Storm in 2002 and 2004, the Mobile BayBears in 2005, and the Iowa Cubs in 2007. Harkey did get a shot at the Major League level with the Florida Marlins in 2006, although the team struggled under new manager Joe Girardi.


Harkey would follow manager Joe Girardi to the New York Yankees for the 2008 season, once again as a pitching coach, after the Bronx Bombers hired Girardi to replace long-tenured manager Joe Torre. While the Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time in nearly two decades under Girardi’s and Harkey’s watch in 2008, the team bounced back in 2009 to win the World Series and get both men their first World Series ring as coaches and managers. Harkey stayed with the Yankees as the bullpen coach for six seasons through the 2013 season until the Arizona Diamondbacks came calling with an offer for Harkey to be the team’s pitching coach.

Harkey has minimal success with the Diamondbacks from 2013-2015 and was eventually fired by the club after the 2015 season. Harkey would return to the New York Yankees for the 2016 season and remains their today, still as the team’s bullpen coach. There was much speculation as to whether Harkey would return to the Yankees this season given his close friendship and presumable loyalty to the recently fired Joe Girardi, but Harkey remained with the organization at least through the 2019 season under new manager Aaron Boone. Harkey came back for the 2019 season as well under Boone and the Yankees, so a huge welcome back to him!

Good luck on another season Harkey, do us proud. You have a lot of weapons to work with down there, it should be a fun season for you here in 2019.

Meet a Coach: Mike Harkey

If you thought the Yankees pitching staff was good in 2017, wait until you see the 2018 version. With another year of experience under the belt of the likes of Luis Severino, Jordan Montgomery and others the team should be just as good, if not better here in 2018 for a plethora of reasons. A full season of Sonny Gray, a more productive season by Masahiro Tanaka, and another great bullpen behind their starters should only help New York grow and achieve their goals here in 2018. The man in charge of that bullpen is a holdover from the Joe Girardi era and the current bullpen coach Mike Harkey. Let’s meet him. This is Meet a Coach: The Mike Harkey Edition.

Michael Anthony Harkey was born on October 25, 1966 and is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. Before Harkey made it to the Show he was a Titan, a California State University Fullerton Titan. Harkey played college baseball at CSU Fullerton where he caught the eye of the Chicago Cubs who made him their first-round pick in the 1987 MLB First Year Players Draft. Harkey was not long for the Minor Leagues as he made his Major League debut with Chicago during the 1988 season.

When all was said and done Harkey appeared in 131 Major League games with the Chicago Cubs, the Colorado Rockies, the Oakland Athletics, the California Angels and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Harkey played in the Major Leagues during the 1988 season, the 1990 through the 1995 seasons, and finally the 1997 season before his eventual retirement. During his early years with the Cubs the current Yankees bullpen coach was plagued by shoulder and arm injuries as well as a knee injury in 1992 that occurred during a cartwheel attempt at Wrigley Field.

Harkey played through the 1997 season at the Major League level before taking a couple years away from the game after his retirement. Harkey returned to the game in 2000 when he accepted a position as a pitching coach in the Minor Leagues with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. Harkey served in the same position with the Fort Wayne Wizards in 2001 and 2003, the Lake Elsinore Storm in 2002 and 2004, the Mobile BayBears in 2005, and the Iowa Cubs in 2007. Harkey did get a shot at the Major League level with the Florida Marlins in 2006, although the team struggled under new manager Joe Girardi.

Harkey would follow manager Joe Girardi to the New York Yankees for the 2008 season, once again as a pitching coach, after the Bronx Bombers hired Girardi to replace long-tenured manager Joe Torre. While the Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time in nearly two decades under Girardi’s and Harkey’s watch in 2008, the team bounced back in 2009 to win the World Series and get both men their first World Series ring as coaches and managers. Harkey stayed with the Yankees as the bullpen coach for six seasons through the 2013 season until the Arizona Diamondbacks came calling with an offer for Harkey to be the team’s pitching coach.

Harkey has minimal success with the Diamondbacks from 2013-2015 and was eventually fired by the club after the 2015 season. Harkey would return to the New York Yankees for the 2016 season and remains their today, still as the team’s bullpen coach. There was much speculation as to whether Harkey would return to the Yankees this season given his close friendship and presumable loyalty to the recently fired Joe Girardi, but Harkey will remain with the organization at least through the 2018 season under new manager Aaron Boone. Whether Harkey follows Girardi in 2019, assuming the former Yankees manager finds a new managerial job after the season, remains to be seen, but for now Harkey wears the Pinstripes and that is good enough for me.

Good luck on another season Harkey, do us proud. You have a lot of weapons to work with down there, it should be a fun season for you here in 2018. 

Meet a Prospect: Mike Harkey

The New York Yankees finalized their coaching staff this week with the official additions of Alan Cockrell as the hitting coach, Marcus Thames as the assistant hitting coach and Mike Harkey’s return to the Yankees bullpen coach position. Harkey is said to be a close friend of manager Joe Girardi’s and has spent each of the last two seasons in Arizona acting as the Diamondbacks pitching coach. Harkey was not re-signed by Arizona and was allowed to hit free agency before coming back home to the Bronx, and we officially welcome him back today.

This is Meet a Prospect: the Mike Harkey Edition.

Michael Anthony Harkey was born on October 25, 1966 and spent his college years playing for California State University (CSU) Fullerton. While playing for the CSU Fullerton Titans Harkey, as a pitcher, caught the eyes of the Chicago Cubs who drafted him in the first round of the 1987 MLB First Year Players Draft officially beginning his professional career. During Harkey’s generally uneventful playing career he made starts in a number of uniforms including playing for the Chicago Cubs, the Colorado Rockies, the Oakland Athletics, the California Angels and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Harkey all told appeared in 131 games during the 1988, 1990 through 1995, and 1997 seasons. Shoulder and arm injuries derailed and plagued his career before he attempted a cartwheel in the Wrigley Field outfield and severely damaged his knee and essentially ended his career on September 6, 1992.

After Harkey’s injury he began his coaching career when he accepted a position with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in 2000 as their pitching coach. Harkey continued his minor league coaching career as the pitching coach of the Fort Wayne Wizards in 2001 and 2003 and as the pitching coach for the Lake Elsinore Storm in 2002 and 2004 before coaching for the Mobile BayBears in 2005. Harkey coached the Iowa Cubs in 2005 before taking his first Major League position in 2006 when the Miami Marlins made him their bullpen coach.

Harkey followed manager Joe Girardi to the Yankees to be their bullpen coach in 2008 and was an instrumental part of the 2009 World Series run for the Bronx Bombers. All told Harkey was the bullpen coach for the Yankees for six seasons before jumping to the Arizona Diamondbacks for the 2014 season to serve as their pitching coach. Harkey was fired and returned home this season, and we welcome him back. Do what you do Hark!

Possible Replacements for Gary Tuck and Jeff Pentland

Late Sunday night it was announced that the New York Yankees would not be bringing back their hitting coach Jeff Pentland or their bullpen coach Gary Tuck for the 2016 season. In 2016 New York will have their third hitting coach in as many years and their second bullpen coach in three years with the departures of Pentland and Tuck. Surely the Yankees have a list of possible replacements and I will take my best educated guess at this list here for you today in order of likelihood of being hired by the club.

Hitting Coach:

Alan Cockrell

Marcus Thames

James Rowson

Jason Giambi

Dave Magadan

Bullpen Coach:

Mike Harkey

Scott Aldred

Jeff Pentland & Gary Tuck Will Not Return

The New York Yankees have announced that two of their coaches from the 2015 season will not return next season. The Yankees primary hitting coach Jeff Pentland was told when he signed that he would only be around for one year while New York's bullpen coach Gary Tuck was also informed he would not return to the team in 2016.

Pentland's assistant hitting coach Alan Cockrell could get promoted to the main position while it seems like New York will head into 2016 with two hitting coaches once again. Tuck received praise from Yankees catcher Brian McCann who cited his improvement in the throwing game and defensively can be dated back to his workouts with Tuck this season.