Buck Farmer pitched a scoreless fifth inning of the Midwest League All-Star Classic in June as part of the West Michigan Whitecaps pitching rotation. The 23-year old will make his major league debut tonight with the Detroit Tigers, replacing Rick Porcello to open tonight’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Photo/Victoria Walenga
[dropcap]E[/dropcap]ntering the 2014 season, the Detroit Tigers found themselves with one of the best starting rotations in all of baseball.
They had Max Scherzer coming off a Cy Young Award season, Anibal Sanchez winning the ERA title, not to mention perennial All-Star Justin Verlander. Rick Porcello is having arguably the best season of his career, plus the Tigers traded for David Price at the trade deadline.
Yet, it’s the middle of August and the Tigers find themselves turning to Buck Farmer to keep them in the race for the AL Central.
When the Tigers drafted Farmer in the fifth round of the 2013 draft, there were little expectations of him making an impact on their major league team in the near future. Despite having a solid career at Georgia Tech, most scouts didn’t expect Farmer to make his major-league debut until 2016.
Instead, he’ll be making his first major-league appearance on tonight against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Comerica Park.
“I’m very excited for him and it’s a very exciting experience,” said Andrew Graham, manager of the West Michigan Whitecaps. “He deserves it. He did a great job here all year and had a couple great outings up in double-A.”
After losing Verlander and Sanchez to injuries, the Tigers found themselves with few options to fill their rotation in the immediate future. Robbie Ray was the most logical replacement, being one of the Tigers top prospects entering the season. Farmer’s journey to Detroit was more unexpected, although not undeserving.
Farmer might have only made two starts above Class-A this year, but he has been dominant everywhere he’s pitched. Combined between Class-A West Michigan and Double-A Erie, Farmer is 11-5 with a 2.65 ERA while striking out 127 batters over 115 2/3 innings. Just as impressive has been his command, as he’s only allowed 28 walks so far this year.
“He’s consistent, in and out, every outing he was consistent,” Graham said. “That’s what made him so special, especially in A ball and the reason he can go to double-A and have success and going up to the big leagues and having success.”
Opposing lineups are obviously better at the major league level, but Farmer has good enough stuff to at least give the Tigers a chance to win.
Farmer
Featuring a fastball in the low to mid 90s and a plus slider, the 23-year-old-right-hander is going to be tested by a talented Pittsburgh Pirates offense. Although it’s likely this will be his only start in the near future, Farmer could earn a September call up to the bullpen if he pitches well enough.
“A lot of people have always said he’s a fastball-slider guy. I had him last year and all this year and his change-up is just as good as his slider,” Graham said of Farmer’s pitching arsenal. “A couple of games people saw here, he was using his slider a lot because he was having success with it.”
Graham said that Farmer has a change-up that was a little hard at one point, but they worked on changing his grip so he’s slower. He also mentioned that Farmer’s change-up was better than his slider last year.
For a team that has struggled with late-inning relievers, Farmer could prove to be a lot more valuable than fans or the organization originally thought he would be this year.
“He’s going to be fine,” Graham said about Farmer being under pressure in tonight’s debut. “He didn’t really show any nerves when he pitched here but pitching in the big leagues is a lot different scenario so it’s difficult to say. I’ve seen him pitch for two years and he’s never let a situation rattle him so I think he will be just fine.”
First pitch tonight between the Detroit Tigers and Pittsburgh Pirates is scheduled for 7:08 p.m.
*Damien Dennis of The Pit: Sports and Entertainment contributed to this article.
